Ascension
by Travin
Summary: A journey to godhood. SI and a shameless one at that. Something I've had around for a long time. My longest piece ever. Will Be crossover later.


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Ascension 

Please note: In the Manga, Skuld is portrayed as around 15 years old (for the most part ^-^), unlike in the OAV's in which she is portrayed as 12. In this fan fic, she is 16. It just works better that way.

All the original characters are copyright © of their creator, Kosuke Fujishima. All Ranma 1/2 characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi when they come into the story much later. Please support them by buying the manga. 

This Ah! My Goddess fan fiction was written by Travin.

Written 2001 - 2002

Don't waste your time suing little ol' me.

Get ready for some shameless self insertion!

************

It was a beautiful summer day at the temple compound and Keiichi was just sitting down to a nice breakfast with Belldandy. Keiichi picked up the newspaper and something caught his attention.

(Newspaper ad): "Please help a fellow student out by signing up for the student exchange program! Participants from all over the world! Make foreign friends! Learn new languages! Be a good person, and sign up today!"

"Hmm, sounds like a fun thing to do! We've got a lot of room in this place, maybe we should sign up for a foreign exchange student. What do you think, Bell?" Keiichi excitedly asked the goddess. 

"I think it would be a great idea to have a new person living here. It may cut in on our personal time, but it would be worth it!" she replied with a bright smile. 

"Then it's settled. I'll go this afternoon." he stated. 

"Go where?" asked Skuld. 

Keiichi answered "To go and sign us all up to board an exchange student."

"Oh wow! I hope it's a girl my age! This is so exciting!! Oh boy we can build robots and play computer games and eat ice cream until we're sick!" she exclaimed, happily. 

"But what if it's a guy, Skuld?" interrupted Urd "Then you'll have to put up with *another*man in the house!" 

"If that happens then I'm going to make him sleep outside on the roof! Nyaaa!!!" she said as she stuck out her. 

"Well, we'll see when they get here!" Keiichi inclined, as he stood up to go and sign up. "You'll just have to wait!". And with that he left to the student affairs office in downtown Nekomi.

************

Ten days later.

************

"Hey I got some mail from the student exchange office!! Oh boy oh boy oh boy!!!!!!" I noticed. I ripped open the letter and read it. 'Dear sir,' "Heh heh!" 'We are pleased to inform you that your exchange to Nekomi, Japan has been accepted and you will be boarding with Keiichi Morrisato at the temple compound. Your departure is on August 25th , at 10:00 AM. We hope you have a safe trip and a good learning experience.' I read it over again, not believing my eyes. "YESSSSS!!!!!! I gotta go pack!! That flight's in two days!"

I shouted as I ran into my room in the basement. After packing I ran up stairs to tell my mom about the great news. "Hey Mom! Guess what! I got accepted to go to Japan!!!" I shouted with joy. 

"Oh how fantastic!! I'm so proud of you!!" my Mom said with tears in her eyes. "We're going to miss you, here!!" she said. 

"Oh yeah, I'm sure you will, Mom. Especially Chris! Don't let him change my room *too* too much.!" I said sarcastically. 

"So who are you staying with? I hope it's a nice place. You know how mothers worry." my mom explained. 

"I'm staying with a guy named Keiichi Morrisato. Cool name!" I noted to her. "This is going to be great!!!!!"

************

"Hey we got some mail from the student exchange office!" Keiichi said, exuberantly. He tore it open and read it. "Uh-oh, Skuld's not going to like this!" he sighed. 

"Like what?" an upset Skuld sounded behind him.

"Well…you…see…the thing…is…" Keiichi stuttered. 

"Oh wow is it about the exchange student? Is the student my age?" she asked. 

"Well, yeah…but" Keiichi was having a hard time breaking the news to Skuld that the Student was 17 years old and a guy. 

"Well does the person like the same things as I do??" she asked even more excitedly. 

"It says that he is going to take advanced computer sciences and mechanical engineering at Nekomi Tech, so yeah I'd say so…OOPS!!" Keiichi had let it slip. 

"IT'S A GUY!!!???" screamed Skuld.

"Ha! I knew it!! Now you have to deal with two guys in the same house, Skuld!" Urd said from the doorway. "Maybe he's cute and you'll fall in love him!" the goddess teased. 

"NO WAY!! HE'S NOT COMING ANYWHERE *NEAR* ME!!" Skuld exploded. "Well I'm afraid that that's the way it is, Skuld." A comforting Belldandy told her sister, trying to calm her down. "The only room left is he one next to your lab." Belldandy explained. 

"Aww man, this sucks!" an extremely disappointed Skuld stormed off. 

"So when does he get here, and where is he from? Does he speak Japanese? Did they send any pictures?" Urd shot out rapid fire questions at 100km/h. 

"Whoa, whoa one at a time!" a confused Keiichi managed to squeeze in between questions. "All it says is, that he is coming in two days at the Nekomi Central Airport, at 10 AM. It says that he's from Canada, and speaks Japanese pretty well. As for a description, it says that he's about six feet tall, with dark blonde hair and green eyes, 154 pounds, fairly normal guy if you ask me." Keiichi explained.

"Oooh! Sounds like a hot guy!" taunted a giddy Urd. 

"He's only 17, Urd." Keiichi filled in. 

"Well, let's get his room ready for when he arrives." Belldandy called, already thinking ahead.

"That's my Bell. Always planning ahead." Thought a happy Keiichi.

************

"Aww man! I shouldn't have told them I had my pilot's license when they asked!!" I thought. I was sitting in the navigator chair in the 747's cockpit on the flight from Winnipeg to Vancouver, to Japan. When the other navigator, the only one that actually spoke Japanese got sick and passed out, *I* had to fill his place. It had been a grueling 10 hour trip and it was finally drawing to a close. The head pilot instructed me to request landing from Air Traffic Control. "Nekomi tower, this is flight two six five niner, Charlie Tango Delta Lima approaching on heading six five requesting landing, over" I said in Japanese. 

"Uh…is this some kind of joke, kid?" the tower asked. 

"No joke, tower. I'm filling in for the other nav that got sick, and we need permission to land, over." I explained.

"Uh roger, two six five niner, you are cleared to land on six five, copy?" the voice said. 

"Copy that tower." I said, then turned to the pilot. "Go for it." 

"Thanks kid! You really save us up there!" said the thankful pilot. 

************

"What a day!" I thought while picking up my luggage. "Oh well, they gave me a cool new license promotion at least!" looking at his new license, entitling him to fly commercial aircraft if he wanted. "Sweeeet! Now all I have to do is find this Keiichi guy."

************

"Hey did you hear?" some guy in the airport said to his friend. "there was a flight that just came in that was being flown by some kid!"

"What?!"

"Yeah! He landed it and everything… hey there he is over there!!" the man exclaimed pointing to a guy who looked around 16 or 17. 

This caught Keiichi's attention. "Hey, I think that's him over there! Come on guys!" he shouted as the group ran over to meet their new guest.

************

"Yeesh! You'd think that landing a plane was a rare thing around here!" I thought as a thunderous applause welcomed me to the airport. "No problem!" I said. I heard a lot of 'thank-you's' and 'way to go, kid' being shouted at me. I felt like I was a hero, or something. "Don't worry about it! Any time! No big deal! Aww you don't have to say that! Shucks!" I said shyly as I was given handshakes and hugs from all the passengers and staff. "Now. To find Keiichi." I thought. I hadn't been given much of a description of him. Short, wild black hair. "Hmmm. Where could he be?" I said quietly. Then I heard some one shouting at me.

"Are you Travin?" and I knew that it must be him.

************

"Hey I think he heard us! He's coming this way!" Keiichi shouted to the rest. Almost everyone was there. Megumi, Belldandy, Urd, Sora, Ootaki, and Tamiya. Everyone except Skuld, who didn't want anything to do with the new tenant. 

************

"Hi my name is Morrisato, Keiichi! How are you? Welcome to Nekomi, Japan!" the guy said. 

"Hello! My name is Travin! Thank you for letting me stay with you for the next while!" I said excitedly. "I really hope we can get along well! Who are the rest of you?" I asked happily.

"This is Belldandy," he pointed to a beautiful girl around 21 with flowing brown hair and gorgeous pale blue eyes. 

"Wow!" I thought, "must be his girlfriend, the lucky guy!"

"and Urd," she was dressed in clothes that attracted a crowd by themselves, let alone who was wearing them! Urd looked like she was in her mid 20's, 24 I'd say. She had platinum blonde hair that reached down to the back of her knees. "Yowza. This guy must be really popular!" I thought. 

"Hiiiii!" she said in a casual, yet luring voice. 

"and next is my sister Megumi," who looked a lot like her brother, but still a beautiful young woman. "then Sora," a short girl with thick glasses and a short, yet sexless mini skirt, who looked like a very friendly person. "and my two sempai's Tamiya and Ootaki!" as if on cue, the big one with black hair, Tamiya, came a grabbed me up into a big bear hug welcome and said "Welcome ta Nekomi!! Ah hope yuh gonna join da auto club!" 

I didn't know what was going on. Was he attacking me or just saying hello in his way? I decided to let him choose.

"Tamiya, put him down, he doesn't even know who you are, let alone the Auto club!!" Keiichi shouted in a panic.

"Oh yeah!! Sorry pal!" he sheepishly said putting my crippled body back on the ground. Good thing I decided not to react. I was being crushed, but it wasn't hurting or anything, just a friendly bear hug. 

"That's okay!" I explained. "No harm done!" and with that we went off the temple compound.

************

On the taxi ride to the temple, which consisted of myself, Keiichi, and Belldandy since the others all found other ways to get home, Keiichi and Belldandy were asking a lot of questions about me. 

"So how are you going to college at your age?" Belldandy asked. 

"Well I got a scholarship." I simply replied. 

"What's Canada like?" "Is it really cold like they say?" "How many people do you have in your family?" the questions went on for a while, and after answering them, I asked Keiichi if Belldandy was his girlfriend. Keiichi and Belldandy looked at each other and I knew my question had already been answered. 

"Yes she is. She has been for almost two years now." Keiichi said softly, almost not even to me.

"That's a very good thing you have there, Keiichi and Belldandy." I spoke up. "The kind of love you have for each other is a match made in heaven!" I exclaimed. They both laughed softly.

"You don't know how right you are, Travin!" Belldandy said. "Eh?" I asked with a puzzled look on my face. "Never mind." This was getting kinda weird but it didn't matter to me. I was going to be spending at least four years here and was almost at my new home! I couldn't wait! "By the way," Belldandy said softly, "is it true that you landed that plane?" she was interested in my little fiasco with the flight. 

"Well I guess so, but it was no big deal." I said, trying to hold back from blushing.

"I think you are a very nice person Travin, to do something like that!" she said, lovingly. That sent my face to a deep crimson colour. 

"Aw…come on…stop!" I laughed at being so praised.

************

When we got to the temple, I unloaded my things from the cab and started to walk into the grounds. "Wow!" I said with awe. The place was beautiful. I'd wondered how they scored such a nice place. I was just reaching the front steps when suddenly, I heard a girl yell. 

"No! I'm not going to let him in here!" she shouted. 

The front door slid open to reveal a girl about the same age as me with long black hair and a pissed off look on her face. I wondered if she meant me. I was about to find out. 

"You're not getting in here with out going through me, first!!" she yelled at me. This was very strange but before I could say anything in retort, she whipped a small metal ball at me that landed in my hands. Everybody then jumped away from me. I had no clue as to what was going on. The little round ball was covered in wires. I just sat there and stared at it. "Hmm. I wonder what it is?" I thought quizzically. Then it exploded. "Ouchy." Was all I got out. I sat there, a black morass of charcoal. 

"Serves you right you jerk!" the girl yelled at me. She then turned on her heel and walked back into the house. I heard Belldandy say 

"Oh no, Skuld, what have you done." 

************

Skuld marched into the living room, satisfied with her work. She taught that guy a lesson not to come to her house and expect to live here. No siree! "That'll learn 'em!" she thought proudly. Just then Belldandy rushed in looking upset. 

"How could you *do* that to him, Skuld?" she pointed at the burnt Travin being carried in by Keiichi. 

"Man you're heavy!" he gasped out as he dragged him into the living room. 

"A foreign exchange student comes to live with us and you blow him up! How do you think he fells about us now? He's probably scared to even be near us now! I know you're upset about him being a guy and all, but that doesn't mean you should treat him like this! You didn't even give him a chance! I sure hope he can find it in his heart to forgive you, Skuld!" she sternly said as she chewed Skuld out. Belldandy could always make her realize her mistakes, but Skuld hated this new guy, Travin for some reason. 

"I did the right thing and that's that!" she yelled and stormed off to her room.

************

I didn't quite remember what happened. I remembered looking at that thing the girl threw at me and then…"Hmmm. It must've exploded" I thought, realizing that I was a piece of burnt toast. "Why'd she do that for?" I was deeply confused. "I get into this wonderful environment and am ready to have a nice time here and I get blown up. Great. Why on earth would she do something like that? Maybe she thought I was and intruder or something. Hmm. That would explain a lot, but not everything. Oh well I guess I'll find out when I wake up. Good thing I wasn't hurt. Only knocked out."

************

"Skuld, I want you to apologize to Travin when he wakes up, okay?" a concerned Belldandy said to Skuld.

"Okay." Skuld replied meekly. She realized that she had totally screwed up, and was being naïve about the whole issue. She felt sorry now, and wished for his forgiveness. Although she didn't want the guy around, she didn't want to hurt the mere mortal. 

"He looks so peaceful like this, for some reason." Belldandy oddly noted. "He almost looks like he's sleeping."

"Yeah he does!" Keiichi looked a bit closer, only to notice Travin snoring a little. "Hey he *is* sleeping!" he exclaimed. It was true! Travin was sound asleep! "How can anyone sleep after being blown up?" Urd wondered. "Maybe he's in a coma! Way to go Skuld, put him in a coma on the first day of his visit!"

"I did not!" Skuld whined, defensively. Just then Travin woke up.

"See?" she pointed out.

"Oh I see you're feeling better, Travin!" Belldandy greeted him.

"I guess so, if waking up is feeling better." Travin said meagerly. Then he saw Skuld. "Oh! Hello! I don't think we've been introduced! My name is Travin! Who are you?" Every one's jaw dropped at least a foot.

"Whaaa??? You don't recognize her? She blew you up for goodness sake!" Urd shouted.

"I was blown up?" a puzzled Travin answered. Another jaw drop.

"This guy's weird!" Skuld whispered to Urd.

"Tell me about it!"

"Well my name is Skuld." Skuld stated with an air of hesitance.

"Nice to meet you Skuld!" a happy Travin said. "So where am I staying?"

"I'll show you to your room." Keiichi volunteered.

"Yeah, it's right next to your secret lover's room eh, Skuld?" Urd taunted.

"Oh shut up, Urd!!" Skuld shouted.

"You gonna make me?"

"Wanna bet?" Skuld reached into her pocket and produced a whole bunch of Skuld Bombs, and flung them mercilessly at Urd, who deflected them with the cushion she was on, right towards the unsuspecting Travin!

"Hey! Look out!" Skuld yelled. Quickly, Travin spun around started darting his hand out at each Skuld Bomb that was heading for him. Then all of grenades hit the ground with a soft clank.

"HUH?!?" all the members of the room stood there shocked, staring at the harmless little orbs on the floor. Then all eyes turned to Travin, whose hand was still out-stretched. 

"The look on his face could scare paint off a car!" Keiichi thought, staring at their new guest who had just disarmed a batch of Skuld Bombs. Travin slowly opened his hand and dropped a bunch of green wires to the floor.

"But how?" a confused Skuld asked. She was amazed at the fact that nobody had *ever* stopped one of her bombs, but this guy just took out eight! The look on Travin face was replaced by his normal, happy one and he said "Well, I need to get unpacked. Keiichi?"

"Uh…yeah. Right this way."

************

As Keiichi slid open the door to my new room, I poked my head inside. It was a nice little room with a small inner room and a closet. It had two windows with nice Japanese blinds. A small futon was in the back corner, along with a small desk, dresser and a nightstand. It was a lot like home. I decided to use the small room as a workshop to work on any project I wanted. I could build myself a small kitchen unit and get a mini-fridge with some of the money I had saved up for the past five years, which I had brought with me despite my parents warnings that I wouldn't need it and would probably spend it all.

I didn't think that I could spend *that* much money, approx. five million yen that I had worked so hard to make.

"This is great! This is to cover some of the costs." I stated as I handed him a wad money.

"Oh you don't really…" Keiichi started, but I insisted he take it and I wouldn't take no for an answer.

************

"Hey Bell! Look what Travin gave us for letting him stay!" Keiichi said excitedly to his girlfriend.

"Oh such a generous young man!" Belldandy said as she looked at the stack of money Travin had given them. "How is he liking his new room?" she asked.

"I think he likes it a lot, but the second he got unpacked he started drawing plans for his room. I think he wants to put in a mini kitchen." Keiichi explained.

"Maybe he doesn't like my cooking?" Belldandy asked sadly.

"Well I asked him about it and he said that he loves Japan, but wasn't accustomed to the food, so he'll make his own until he adjusts." Keiichi said, matter-of-factly.

"He also said not to worry about dinner tonight." Keiichi added. Travin had earlier told him that he was going to make dinner tonight.

"Oh. How interesting. I wonder what he's going to make?" Belldandy thought aloud.

************

Later that night at dinner time, the smell of food wafted through the temple, calling forth many hungry stomachs.

"Mmmmmm! Something smells Good!" Megumi said with a hungry tone. She was always hanging around, especially around dinner, even though she lived in her uncle's apartment.

"Yeah, I wonder what's cooking?" Urd said as she entered the dining room.

"Dinner time!" Travin shouted as he brought a big tray of french fries and grilled cheese sandwiches and set it on the table.

"Tonight special is grilled cheese and bacon sandwiches and fries. One of my personal favorites! Help your selves!" Travin said excitedly as he watched everyone pile food onto their plates. Keiichi was the first to dig in.

"Wow! This is good! What's in it?" he asked. 

"It's basically cheese and bacon in toasted bread that's grilled or pan fried. It's a great snack for me! Always have them back home!" Travin explained.

************

After dinner.

************

"Man I'm stuffed!" Megumi said with a satisfying pat to her belly.

"Yeah, that was great, Trav!" Keiichi said.

"Thank you very much for the dinner Travin." Belldandy said graciously. Then she began to clean up the dishes, but I stopped her and said that since I was the one who made the mess, I would clean it up. 

"It's one of my philosophies." I stated and Belldandy gave me a reassuring smile.

"Thank you." She said happily.

************

"Hmmm. I see that stupid prissy Belldandy and her little mortal curse have a new guest staying with them." Mara hissed as she looked on from a tree, while in her mini-Mara form. "That's odd, this mortal seems to possess a lot of power! More than anyone I've ever seen! Almost as much power as a God or Goddess! But it's a different power. A raw energy that can destroy and demolish! Mmmm. I'm starting to like the power in him. Maybe if I possess him and the power he holds I can cause some *real* chaos in their little temple! Ha hahahahaha!!" she laughed maniacally and then disappeared with a little poof of smoke.

************

Travin was in his room doing some remodeling when he sensed someone in the room. "Who's there!" he shouted. When suddenly a maniacal laugh filled the room. 

"This will be fun!" the voice said. Travin felt something entering his body, entering his mind. The force was taking control of him! He fought with all the might he had, but to no avail. None of his training covered demonic possession!

************

I felt my whole body suddenly take a life of it's own. I couldn't do any thing to stop it!

"What's going on!" I thought. "Who's doing this?"

"Ha hahahahaha! You don't know who I am, but I do know that you are going to cause your new friends a lot of damage!! Ha hahahahaha!" the voice in my head screamed.

"No! I won't let you hurt my friends!" I yelled in my head at the voice who had taken over my body. Then my body started to move forward and out of my room. I walked into the hallway and turned towards the living room and saw Keiichi.

"Oh look! The cursed mortal that Belldandy loves! Oh this *will* be fun!" the voice said with a murderous tone.

"Nooo! Keiichi run!" I thought. I tried to yell, but nothing came out.

"Hey Travin, what's the matter?" Keiichi asked when he saw the empty look on my face. Then I felt my fist rise up and I saw Keiichi fly across the room and hit the wall with a hard thud. He was unconscious and lay in a slump against the wall.

"NO!" I screamed in my head. "How could you do that!" I shouted as the anger boiled up inside me. "Why are you using me to hurt others! Stop!!" I snarled at the voice.

"Ha hahahaha! You'll never forgive your self for these events! You'll be responsible for hurting your friends and you'll have to live with the guilt for the rest of your miserable, mortal life!!" the voice taunted me. I couldn't stand it.

"Travin! What did you do to Keiichi!?" Belldandy screamed. "Stop! Please!"

"Noo!! Run away!!" I tried to yell, but nothing. I felt my body lunging towards her. Then Skuld ran in and shouted "Go get him Banpei! I knew he couldn't be trusted!" and I heard the mechanical footsteps of something coming towards me from the other room. Suddenly, a robot that looked like something from lost in space with a funny looking hat and a strange, yet angry face came running at me. I knew it was going to attack, I thought maybe it would knock me out and this madness would stop.

"Ha! You think that pile of trash can stop me??" I heard my self say.

"Stop it! You can't do this!!" I shouted at the voice again. She was taking control of my voice, too. She could speak in my voice. Say what I didn't want to say.

"Oh yeah? Go get him!" Skuld ordered the robot. 

"Watch this, boy! Your own power used against your will!" the voice said. I felt the power increase in my right arm, then focus on the first two knuckles on my hand.

"Oh no." I thought in sorrow. As Banpei came running at me I saw my hand raise up in the air and speed down almost too fast to see. But I knew what I had done. I saw what was at the end of my fist. Crushed. Under my hand was Banpei. I had crushed his head down to his feet with a punch strong enough to crush a car. My strongest hit. Then I saw the face of Skuld, crying.

"Why?" I wanted to cry in sorrow, but I couldn't.

"Isn't this fun, Travin? She worked so hard on that thing, too. Getting it to keep me away from the temple. Shooting warding charms at me when ever I came near. Well that puts an end to that!! Ha! You've made my life a whole lot easier! I think I'll keep you under my possession for a *looooong* time!" the voice said with a laugh. I was devastated. Then I saw Urd rush out of her room and a look of anger over took her face when she saw her sisters crying at the end of the hall and Banpei crushed under my hand. 

"You…bastard! We let you into our house and this is what you do!?" she shouted in pure rage at me.

"Ha! You can't stop me!" I heard the voice of myself and wanted to hide in disgust. Then I saw Urd put her hands out in front of her and a small pink ball of energy form between her hands.

"An energy attack? Yes! I'm gonna get knocked out for sure!" I thought with joy. Finally I could end this nightmare.

"Ha, guess again buddy. That's magic and you're not going anywhere but forward!" the voice said and I felt my self moving forward. 

"Eat this!!" Urd shouted as she tossed the magic orb at me. It hit me square in the chest, sliding me back a few meters. It hurt. A lot.

"Is that the best you can do?" I heard my self talking again. The pain was too much. They couldn't stop me. If I didn't stop I was going to hurt them or even worse! I had to do something. Gathering up all my strength my body I slowly raised my hands under my own control and gathered up all the chi in between my hands, forming a green ball of energy the size of a mini basket ball.

************

"Why is he doing this?" Skuld cried. Seeing the completely out of control youth was too much to bear. Was he going to hurt them? Just moments before he had crushed Banpei with one blow.

"I don't know!" Belldandy cried, slumping to the floor. She wished she could do something for Travin without hurting him, but options were running out. She wished Keiichi were here. Maybe he could calm him down.

"There's only one thing left to do." Urd said with sorrow. She didn't want to do it, but the only way that she could stop him was to kill him.

Then all three girls looked up in shock as they saw Travin moving his hands up in front of him and a green ball of energy form in between his hands.

"Oh no!! He can harness energy?!!" Urd shouted. Then they saw the look on Travin's face turn from empty evil, to an angry one.

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!!!" he shouted and turned his hands inward and let go.

************

"NOOOOOO!" screamed Mara. "What the hell is he doing? Trying to kill himself so he wouldn't hurt his friends?! This guy's too much! I'm out of here!!" she yelled and left his body right before he fired. All three sisters saw a small Mara pop out of Travin's head. Then they looked at Travin and saw him turning his hands inward.

Belldandy sucked in her breath. The beam ripped through Travin's body and out through the back wall into the forest. "Oh Lord no." Urd said as she saw Travin's body slump to the ground, a large hole in his lower right side.

"DAMN YOU MARA!!!!" Urd screamed into the night. 

Still shocked at what had happened, Skuld heard her sister. "Quickly! We've got to use all our powers combined to save his life!" Belldandy said. "We still have a chance to save him!" All three sisters gathered around Travin's limp body and focused all their energy into him.

His wound slowly disappeared.

"Oh thank you Father!" Belldandy said with a sigh of relief. "Let's get him back to his room and then look after Keiichi."

************

I lay there staring into the darkness. Was I dead? If so, did I stop myself in time? Did that Mara demon hurt anyone else? So many questions. I thought that I must be dead because I didn't hurt any where. I couldn't feel the gaping hole in my body that I had made. I must be dead. I was filled with sorrow. I wanted to cry forever. I wanted to go back and tell everyone that I was sorry. I wanted to see my family one more time. Slowly I began to open my eyes. I f I was in dead, then I would be in heaven. A bright light. I quickly shut my eyes. It was too much. I didn't want to go there yet. I thought about my friends. Mara said that Urd was using a magic attack. How could that be? I thought the only type of energy that could be harnessed into attacks and healing methods was chi energy or life force energy. Magic. It could be possible. But how? I heard a voice calling me. It's sounded like Mom.

"…Travin…" it called.

"…wake up, Travin…"

Wake up? I was sleeping? I wasn't dead? I jammed my eyelids open, the bright sunlight filling my pupils. I was alive! I looked over, expecting to see my mother but instead saw Belldandy, Urd and Keiichi.

"Morning sleepy head!" Keiichi said happily. He had a large bruise on his cheek. Oh no. I remembered what I did. Why was he acting so nice to me? Did he forget that I hit him across the room?

"Don't worry about that now. All that matters is that you are okay." Belldandy reassured me. Wait a minute. How did she know I was thinking that? She must've read my mind! More magic.

"How?" I asked.

"Well we might as well let you in on it now since you already know most of it." Keiichi said with a sigh.

"Yes. We have been holding something from you. You see, Urd, Skuld and I are goddess' from heaven. I was sent here to grant Keiichi a wish and he wished for me to stay with him forever. Then Urd and Skuld came along. Eventually, I fell in love with Keiichi, and he fell in love with me. That other woman that possessed you was a demon named Mara. She has been trying to bring pain to us for a long time and used your power to hurt us." She explained.

"Hurt." Was all I could think of. I wanted to know how Skuld was feeling after I destroyed Banpei, but I was too afraid to ask. I remembered Mara telling me about how hard she worked on that mecca. She must be heartbroken. She must hate me. I felt so ashamed. I needed to make it up for her. 

"Rest for now, Travin." Urd said softly as she put her hand over my head and I fell asleep.

************

"He feels that he is responsible and can't ever forgive himself for what he did. He still thinks that he should have done something sooner." Belldandy said wistfully. 

"Yes. I felt that thought, too." Urd said softly, looking at the sleeping form of Travin in his futon. "Did you by any chance figure out how much power he has in him and why? I couldn't figure it out. And how does he know how to harness energy? Was it magical energy that he used? It felt like raw energy to me." Urd questioned.

"I did find out how he acquired all that power. He gained it from years and years of hard training of the martial arts. The energy that he uses is referred to on earth as 'chi' or life energy. Travin has trained himself to build up massive amounts of chi into different types of attacks and other techniques such as healing." Belldandy answered with a bit of sadness in her voice. Travin was willing to give his life to save his friends that he had only met that day. There was something about him that arose curiosity in her.

"Why did Mara have to put him through that?" Belldandy said as she started to cry, remembering what had happened two nights ago. Seeing Travin on the ground with a hole in his side. 

"That much pain to save us from harm." She thought.

************

Three days later.

************

Skuld sat on the floor in her lab crying over the smashed up remains of her guardian mecca, Banpei. She hated Travin now. She had seen him with her own eyes smash Banpei. Those eyes of his. So empty. She knew that he had been possessed by Mara but still felt a great hatred towards him because it was he who actually destroyed Banpei. She couldn't shake the look on his face though. It was so empty. Yet it showed the true power hiding behind his normal innocent smile. She wished she could forgive him because she knew in her heart that he wouldn't have done it if it weren't for Mara, but…

"Why?" she sobbed. She started to repair her mecca when she heard on knock on her shoji door.

"Who is it." She said, tears obvious in her voice. She didn't care how old she was, she was going to cry until the pain went away.

"It's me." The voice said from behind the door. It was him. The one who destroyed her Banpei.

"What do *you* want?" she cried.

"I'm sorry." He said. "I know there's nothing I can do to make it up to you for what I did, so I hope that this at least makes you fell better. I made it to fit in your room. If you ever want it to be refilled, just ask me or send me a note." He said as he opened to sliding door just enough to push a machine the size of a mini fridge into her lab. It was an ice cream machine. It had five flavors on it. Vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, rainbow, and bubble gum. On the front it read in big green letters: 'Skuld's Ice Cream Parlor'. Skuld took one look at it and burst into tears. Here she was hating him for something that he had no control over and nearly killed himself stopping Mara from making him hurt her, and he comes in with a home made ice cream machine with all her favorite types of ice cream? What was she thinking!

"Ooh!!" she cried and ran up and opened the door to see him walking down the hall.

"Thank you! Sniff " she cried and ran up to him and buried her face in his shoulder. Having a guy who is at least six inches taller than you to cry on is very comforting. She sat there hugging him and crying for a while. 

"It's okay." Travin said in a comforting voice, not sure at what else to do. Here he was with a beautiful young goddess crying on his shoulder and hugging him out of nowhere. He thought that she hated him! But now he wasn't sure. But he knew that there was one thing he could do.

"Tomorrow, I'll help you repair Banpei, okay?" Travin said with a caring smile.

"Okay." Skuld replied, not wanting to let go of her soft pillow to cry on.

"Thank you." She said in a soft voice, then she left for her room.

************

I lay there in my bed for a long time, going over what had just happened. 

"Maybe she doesn't hate me." I thought. "For now, I'd better play it cool around her, and make sure she doesn't get upset." I decided. If she stayed in a good mood, then she wouldn't feel miserable.

"A win/win situation." I declared happily, as I drifted off to sleep.

************

Skuld sat up in her bed. She couldn't sleep. She decided to go and sleep in her sister's room because that's where she felt most secure. Hopefully, Belldandy wouldn't be asleep yet and she could talk with her.

"Belldandy, can I sleep in your room tonight?" Skuld asked in a near whisper.

"Of course you can, Skuld. What's the matter? Do you want to talk about it?" Belldandy asked in a comforting voice.

"It's about Travin." Skuld answered, beginning to cry. "He's so…nice!" She cried.

"Yes he is a very nice person. What's making you so sad?" Belldandy asked.

"Well I was really mad at him and I hated him for crushing Banpei, and he came to my door and I said 'Who is it?' and he said 'It's me' and I asked in a rude tone 'What do *you* want?' and he just says: 'I'm sorry.'" She cried.

"And then he goes on to tell me that he knows he can't do anything to make me forgive him but he made me something to make me feel better. Then he opens the door just enough to slide in an ice cream machine with all my favorite kinds! After I practically *told* him that I hated him. When I saw this I burst into tears and ran out after him into the hall way, and he let me cry on his…sniff…shoulder until…sob…he told me that tomorrow he'd help me repair Banpei!!" she cried then burst into tears. "He's so nice to me and…and…and…he just let me cry on him for as long as I wanted, comforting me even though he thinks that I hate him."

"There, there. You see, Skuld, he cares about you and how you feel! He thinks that it's his fault and wants to make up for it." Belldandy calmly told her. "I think that he wants you to be happy and forgive him, but he'll wait for eternity for your forgiveness."

"Thanks, sis." Skuld said softly as she drifted off to sleep.

************

Skuld opened the door to Travin's room a crack to peek inside. She opened it wider when she saw he was still sleeping. It was already after breakfast!

"What a sleeper!" she thought. She walked up to Travin who was half hanging over the side of his futon. She tugged on his arm to wake him up.

"C'mon, wake up sleepy head!" she shouted.

"…mrrmble…grmm…" he replied.

"Hmm. He must really like to sleep!" Skuld exclaimed. She had to think of some way to wake him up. It was time to repair Banpei.

"Hey! Get up! You said you'd help me! Remember?" she yelled at him.

"…who…?" Travin asked half up, now.

"Remember? Me, Skuld?" she asked surprisingly. All of a sudden he sat straight up in his bed wide eyed and fully awake.

"Baa wha? What are you doing in my room?" he asked.

"You said you'd help me fix Banpei this morning, remember?" she said looking almost hurt.

"Yeah. Just give me a minute to get dressed and I'll be there to help!" he said with a smile. "Phew!" he thought, remembering his mental note to keep Skuld on the positive side.

"Thanks!" Skuld said, happily.

************

As I walked into the hallway I noticed it felt rather empty. I couldn't sense anyone but Skuld.

"Hey, where is everyone?" I asked.

"Well since it's already after breakfast," Skuld began. "Keiichi and Megumi are at school, Belldandy is off shopping and Urd is probably at the bars. So it's just you and me for the rest of the day!" she said happily.

"Okay." I replied. We walked into her room and on the floor was the scattered parts of Banpei, waiting to be repaired.

"I'll be right back, I need to change into some work clothes." Skuld said as she went to a separate part of her room, which was where her bed and clothes and things were. After the door closed I started to work. 

"Hmmm. A lot of hyper advanced circuitry here." I mumbled. I started off by repairing the servos in the legs and arms. Easy stuff. Replacing wires, re-fitting casting plates. Then I worked my way up to the main body cavity. 

"Lessee. The main power supply is damaged and will need a tweak right…ngah!… here!" I said as I reached in to solder a new power coupler. 

"With the new coupler, the power should be doubled and the run time should be increased dramatically. Hmmm. I hope she doesn't mind me changing a couple things." I thought. The next bit was replacing some transistors and capacitors, new O² modulators for the charm canons. After that I took a look at the head. I didn't want to mess around with the artificial intelligence programming in there even though AI was my major back in my computer sciences class in Canada, Skuld had some major advanced technology that I wasn't familiar with. So I left it alone. I was just assembling things when…

**RING** 

"I'll get it!" I shouted. I ran over to the phone in the hallway. The voice on the other side was very bold and almost lordly like.

"Hello. Who may I ask am I talking to?" the man said.

"My name is Travin. May I help you with anything?" I asked politely.

"Yes, could I speak to Skuld?" he asked.

"One moment please."

************

Skuld looked at herself in the mirror. She was wearing a sports bra and boxer shorts.

"Your 16 years old in mortal terms, so why can't you dress like it?" she asked herself. She dressed like a tomboy, she thought. 

"But that's the way I like to dress." She thought with a sigh.

"Skuld! Telephone!" Travin called from the hall.

"Eep!" She thought. "I can't find anything to wear! I don't have time to change! What if it's the Lord? What will he say if I take my time to answer the phone? Oh, what will I do?" she panicked. Then an idea came to her mind. 

"I know! I'll just ask Travin nicely to go wait in my closet and not come out until I tell him! Yeah! Then I can answer the phone with out him seeing me in my underwear!" It was brilliant she thought.

"Travin?" she yelled into the hall.

"Yes?" he answered.

"Can you do me a big favor and go wait in my closet with the door closed and not come out until I tell you to?" she asked in the nicest tone she could muster up.

"Uhh…okay." He said, obviously puzzled.

"Oh man, she must be mad at me for messing with her programming!" he thought sadly as he closed the closet door behind him and sat down to wait.

"Wow. Didn't even ask why!" Skuld thought with delight as she heard the closet door close. In a split second she was on the phone.

"Hello?" she asked.

"It is I" the man said.

"Hello, My Lord. What can I do for you?" she asked nicely.

"It has occurred to me that this new boy, Travin, mortal age 16, has found himself living with you. Am I correct?"

"Yes."

"For some reason, this mortal possesses an incredible amount of power and strength, and Yggdrasl is having some trouble figuring out how he can contain so much power. Since he is staying with you, I would like you, Skuld, to personally watch over him and give a full report on his physical structure, mental capabilities, and all other mortal qualities. In order to do this I am promoting you to second class goddess, unlimited license. That is all."

**CLICK**

"Unlimited…license…" Skuld's heart was pounding. Her probation as surface world trainee was just replaced with an unlimited license! And all because of Travin! Skuld remembered he was still waiting patiently in her closet. She raced back into her room and into her clothes room. 

"All right!" she thought. She needed to get dressed so she could tell Travin.

She ran around her room, looking for something to wear, not noticing the little puddle of melted ice cream on the floor, and slipped.

************

"Hmm. I wonder who was on the phone." I thought.

"Waa!" THUMP!

"What was that?? It sounded like Skuld fell down! I wonder if she's alright?" my mind raced. Was Skuld okay? Was she in her clothes room? I opened the door a crack to see. Her door was closed and she wasn't in the main room. I opened the door all the way and ran up to her other room.

"Are you okay Skuld?" I asked. No answer. Maybe she hit her head! What if I went in and she didn't have any clothes on? What if she's unconscious? I extended my senses to try and 'feel' if she was okay. She's hurt! She's knocked out, but was she dressed? I had to do something.

"I've got it! But I have to be really careful about where I pick her up!" I said.

I picked up a piece of cloth and wrapped it around my head so I couldn't see anything Skuld wouldn't want me to see. Then I sensed where she was and picked her up under the arms and lifted her to her bed.

************

"Ow my head!" Skuld thought as she lay there. "Huh? I'm in my bed! But if I'm in bed, then someone put me here! Oh no! Was it Travin? What if he saw me in my underwear!" she thought. She was so embarrassed. Then she felt a cold cloth being put on her head. He was right there! She slowly opened her eyes, afraid of what she would see. 

"Eh?" she thought as she saw Travin there, wearing a blind fold. "He's…so…" she started to think in that way again. "Why is it that whenever he does something like that I think of him so…warmly?" she thought. Then Travin put his hands over her head and Skuld could see deep concentration on his face.

A small white sphere formed between his hands and he pressed it into her head. Skuld felt a magnificent feeling when the energy entered her body. All her pain vanished, and she felt the lump on her head disappear. She looked up at him and saw he had sweat beading on his brow.

"He must have used a lot of energy on me!" she thought. Then Travin got up and left with out even noticing that she was awake. Skuld's eyes were filled with tears of gratitude.

************

Travin lay down in his futon, exhausted after using so much of his energy.

"I gotta practice my head injury healing more. I'm wasted!" he thought after a long sigh. He soon drifted off to sleep, unaware that someone was watching him.

************

Skuld sat there watching the sleeping form of an exhausted Travin. He does so much for her, and expects nothing in return. She would let him sleep for a while before waking him up, and getting back to work. 

"Might as well start my report." She thought. "Let's start off with some dream analyzing." And with that she dove deep into Travin's mind.

"Wow!" she thought with awe. His mind was like another world, filled with childhood memories. She looked into the part of his mind that controlled dreams.

"That's odd, he's not dreaming." She observed as the mental image of Travin was just standing there, looking straight at her.

"Can he recognize me in his mind? Does he know I'm in his dream center?" she thought looking at the projection. Suddenly, a memory started to play in his dream center. It stared off with him and his brother driving along a road in a car. As they neared an intersection, Skuld saw another car careen into the intersection, out of control and hit a passing tanker truck!

"Look out!" she wanted to scream, but remembered that this was a memory, and had already happened. She watched on, as the tanker truck swerved and hit the curb, tossing it on its side. Travin's brother, jammed the brakes and turned the vehicle, but to no avail. The tanker collided with their car, crushing the front. Gasoline was spilling from the front. Skuld saw Travin's brother push his way out of the car and run over to Travin. She heard Travin yell.

"Go! I'm stuck! Just go! It's gonna explode! Run!" he yelled at his brother, who looked on helplessly as he ran from the crash. Skuld walked up next to Travin, wishing she could do something. She could see the fear in his eyes. The next few moments felt like they passed in slow motion. He was looking at a loose wire, swinging closer and closer to the stream of gasoline, spewing from the tanker. Left. Right. Left. Right. Left. Contact. Explosion. Skuld watched in horror as he was thrown backward, sliding on the ground with a gaping wound across his chest from his right shoulder, to his left side, from the crushed car door frame that had pinned him down. He skidded across the street and hit a light post leaving a huge dent in it. She ran over to him, to see if he was okay, forgetting it was a dream. She crouched next to him and looked into his eyes. Blood was trickling down his forehead. Then he slowly raised himself to his feet, clutching his side. He walked over to his brother and asked him if he was alright and then collapsed.

"Oh…my…Lord…" Skuld cried as she came out of his dream. She wished she could change the past so he would never have to remember that awful memory again. She cried and cried for him.

"Why are you crying?" she heard him say. She looked up at him as he sat up in his bed. She sat down next to him and hugged him as she cried. Then she looked into his puzzled face and gave give a kiss on the cheek.

"That's for taking care of me." She said between tears, and went back to crying on his shoulder.

"Thank you, Travin. For everything."

************

"Wow. A beautiful goddess just kissed me. Me. A mortal. Now I know how Keiichi feels, in a way." I thought. After a while, I put my arm around her shoulder comfortingly.

"You seem…upset?" I asked.

"No. I mean yes. Well." She stuttered. I could tell she was having a hard time expressing her feelings. "I'm very grateful that you saved me earlier, and wish I could do something to repay you.."

"You don't have to do anything for me! Just knowing you're okay is a reward in itself!" I said, trying to make her feel better. It was a good thing that the others weren't here. They probably would have made things a bit more difficult…Urd. I tried changing the subject.

"By the way. Who was that on the phone?" This seemed to provide instant relief. That little glint in her eyes returned.

"It was Kami-sama! He told me that I am going to take you as my mortal charge!" she said with excitement.

"What's that mean?" I asked.

"Well it's like this. Belldandy has Keiichi because of his wish. She has to stay with him until that wish is fulfilled. Since she loves him that's like never and they will be together forever. So Keiichi is Belldandy's mortal charge. She is to look after him."

"So you're saying that you have to grant me a wish?" I said confusedly.

"Not exactly. It would be like I granted you a wish, but instead I have to submit a report on…you." She said and suddenly returned to her previous mood.

"Which reminds me," she said quietly, "I was analyzing your dreams…"

"You were in my head?"

"Yes, and I saw that dream you had. I have a question. Did it really happen?"

This struck a nerve. I didn't like to talk about that accident. I hated remembering the fact that for once, I couldn't do anything. I was helpless.

"…yes…" and with that I lifted up my t-shirt revealing the scar, from my right shoulder, to my left side. Skuld turned white and looked like she was going to faint. I put my shirt back down.

"But that's all in the past, and I'm alive now. I'm just glad no one else was hurt." Skuld was starting to cry again. I put my hand on her shoulder.

"Yowza!" I shouted.

"What?" she said.

"You are really tense! Here, let me work out some knots." I said as I gently massaged her shoulders, working out the tense areas.

"Man!" I thought. "A lot of stress here!" I pulled out a small pad of paper and quickly drew a small sketch of her back and where the tension and pressure points were.

"What are you doing?" she asked drowsily. 

"I'm making a map of your tension points and your pressure points so I can figure out different types of massages to produce certain effects." I explained. She looked at two little areas on her lower back in the drawing. They read: "No Touchy!"

"What are these?" she asked innocently.

"Uhh…those are…pressure points that cause a very specific effect." I started to turn pink with embarrassment. Those specific pressure points, if touched during a massage, would get a more 'sensual' response.

"What kind of effect?" she went of, turning the knife as she stabbed.

"Well…let me put it this way. If I mapped out Keiichi's and Belldandy's backs like this, Urd would do *anything* to get her hands on them!" She sat there for a moment, thinking about what I said. Then her face started to turn pink.

"Oh…"

"Well, back to business. I've finished mapping. Do you want a massage?" I asked.

"Uh…I guess so." She replied hastily. "I've never had a massage." She thought. "I wonder what it's like."

"First, do you want a massage that will make you less stressful, relaxed and sleepy, energetic and powered up, or tension release?" I asked.

"Uhh…I'm pretty tired so how about the relaxing one?" she requested.

"Okay. You'll probably want to lie face down, in case you fall asleep." I instructed. She lay down on my bed and I started to work. I started by taking away all the knots and strains on in her back muscles. The I went to work on the pressure points, gently applying pressure to relieve. I could hear her breath relax as she started to drift off.

"This feels so good!" Skuld thought to herself. She felt a tingle run up her spine as she felt Travin's warm fingers gently running up her back. "I wonder what he's thinking right now. Is he thinking about me? Does he 'like' me?" she tried to read his thoughts. "Hmm. The only thing he's thinking about is the map of my back. Such concentration." She could feel herself drifting off into a peaceful slumber.

************

After Skuld had fallen asleep, I walked out into the courtyard of the temple compound. I sat down on a rock near the koi pond and watched the fish swim lazily about. 

"Wait a minute. She's sleeping in *my* bed. And with the massage I gave her, she won't wake up until tomorrow!" I thought. "Oh well. Looks like I'm sleeping under the stars tonight!" I sighed. "Just like the good old days." Suddenly, I sensed danger approaching fast from behind me.

**WOOSH!**

I dodged a spear aimed at my head. I jumped off the rock and did a one-eighty in mid air. There were three of them. And they were good. On quickly came at me from the left with a katana in a striking position, while another came from the right with a bo. 

"What the hell?" I yelled as I easily dodged their attacks. They were only a foot tall! The one with the katana tried an overhead attack. Here was my chance. Using my sword destroying skills I used a secret technique that caught the blade in between my hands and by using their own downward force, I bent the blade completely backwards. When I landed the two other little ninja's were gathered around the first who was staring at the blade of the katana. They pulled down their little hoodies. They were three little women.

"He's very skilled in the art of Goju-ryu!" the middle one said.

"Yes. He may be too good." I over heard the one on the right whisper.

"Why are you attacking me?!" I yelled at them. Why they were doing this was completely over my head.

"I bet you were sent by that demon, Mara! Well you're not going to hurt the others! I won't let you!!" I shouted as I shifted into a fighting posture.

"Did he say Mara?" the middle one said.

"He's a protector of the mistress'?" the one on the left said.

"He's not an enemy?" the one on the right said.

"I'll teach you to try and hurt my friends!" I thought as I began to summon energy for a vicious chi attack. The little ninjas' eye's went wide as they saw me forming a rather large ball of energy, the 'tenchi taisho' or heaven and earth palm strike. Of course it was only to scare them off. I wouldn't ruthlessly kill any being unless that was the only choice given. Holding back the energy, I waited until one spoke up.

"You say that you are protecting your friends? Who are they?" she asked.

"Belldandy and the others, why do you ask?" I demanded. A ray of joy filled their tiny faces. The sense of danger went away, so I let the energy go down to a small ball, just in case.

"I am pleased that you prove your loyalty to your friends. It appears that we misunderstood each other, and are fighting for the same purpose. Our job is to protect these grounds from Mara. My name is Kodama, and these are my friends, Hikari and Senrigen." She said pointing to Hikari on the left and Senrigen on the right. I could tell she was telling the truth, so I relaxed and let my energy disappear.

"Well, I feel the goodness in your heart, so I will trust you." I said a bit more relaxed. "My name is Travin."

"We are glad to have met such and honorable and skilled person such as yourself." Hikari said.

"Aww…thanks!" I said modestly.

"How did you get so good?" Senrigen asked. "And how did you bend Kodama's katana like that?"

"A lot of training. You can train with me, if you want." I offered.

"Wow!"

"Yes please!"

"It would be an honor."

"Great!" I declared happily. New training partners are good to have, especially with skill like theirs.

"Hey, where is everyone?" Kodama asked.

"Well I think Belldandy is still out shopping, and Keiichi and Megumi should be home from college pretty soon, it's almost dinner! I think Urd's out somewhere."

"Where's Skuld?" Hikari asked.

"She fell asleep in my room!" I sighed at the fact that I didn't have a bed to sleep in. The three ninjettes giggled at my misfortune.

"Ah well, it's camp out time tonight!" I said as we walked back into the house.

************

"Hello Kodama, Senrigen, Hikari! How are you today?" Belldandy greeted the three ninjettes as she came through the door. 

"We met a stranger in the temple today and we attacked him!" Kodama said with excitement.

"Oh no! Travin!" Belldandy suddenly remembered that she hadn't told the ninjettes about their new guest Travin. She prayed he was okay.

"Yeah, but he beat us!" Senrigen pouted.

"Yeah well he was too good for us!" Hikari pointed out.

"He beat you?" Belldandy changed moods. She thought that nobody could beat them. Did Travin? "Was this man by any chance around 16 years old with blonde hair?" Belldandy asked.

"Yes. It was Travin! You know, the new guy here?" Kodama said.

"We stopped fighting when he told us that he was protecting his friends and thought we were sent by Mara, and now he's our friend!"

"And our new sensei!" Senrigen shouted with joy.

"Aww c'mon! You don't have to call me sensei!" I said from behind the fridge door.

"How did he get by with out us noticing?" Hikari asked, extremely puzzled.

I snuck in with out anyone noticing!

"He's just that good!" Kodama whispered to her friend.

"I'm home!" came Keiichi's voice from the front door. Belldandy ran up to him and gave him his usual welcome home kiss. 

"It's good to see you too, Bell!" he said in her embrace. 

"It's so nice to have those two love birds around!" Hikari said dreamily. "I wish I had someone like Keiichi, only he would be a great ninja!"

"Where are we going to find three male ninja's our size?" Senrigen said sadly.

"Yeah but I wish they would just spice it up a little! They are *so* boring! All they do it sit around and hug and kiss! They never have any fun! They need some of my passion potion to get things going!" Urd said as she walked into the room.

"Oh give it a rest!" I said. "Let them go at their own pace!" 

"Hmm. I guess they'll get there eventually, but I'm not giving up! In the mean time, I can always work on Skuld and you!" she said with a sly face.

"Wha?" I asked.

"Hehe. So you haven't figured it out yet? Every night I hear her crying to Belldandy and tell her how nice you are to her, and how she loves you!" she teased.

"Yeah…right." I said rolling my eyes.

"Speaking of which, where is Skuld?" Urd asked, surprised not to see her by now.

"Oh this is going to look bad at a time like this." I thought. With the way Urd jumps to conclusions, she'll think that Skuld sleeping in my bed means that I…

"Uhh…" I stammered. "I think she's asleep." I started to turn pink.

"Hmm? Hiding something from us, eh, Trav?" Urd was getting suspicious.

"*Where* is she sleeping?" Urd continued.

"On my bed." I stated plainly. "She fell asleep after I gave her a relaxation massage. She asked me to, after all." I said calmly, before Urd could jump to conclusions. Urd ran to my room and saw Skuld asleep in my bed.

"Heh heh, I bet it was *some* massage, Travin!" she said with a wink.

"Well, not really. She was really tense so I took away the tension and made her more relaxed."

"How thoughtful!" Belldandy joined in. "Skuld can very up tight. She'll be glad you could do that for her." She smiled. At least she didn't think the way Urd was.

"So she's asleep now?" Belldandy asked.

"Yes, and she will be until tomorrow." I replied.

"Wow, you must have really put a spell on her!" Urd chimed in.

"So where are you going to sleep tonight?" Keiichi asked.

"Out side." I said. Belldandy's face turned into a worried one.

"Out side? You'll catch a cold!" she said with concern.

"Nah! I used to camp out all the time, when I was on a training journey! I couldn't afford to stay in a hotel or something. Besides. It's good for me. I belong outside with nature." I reminisced. 

"Plus the fact that it's going to be 23° Celsius tonight isn't bad, either." Keiichi added. "Hey I got an idea! Since it's the weekend, we can all camp out in the back yard!"

"Well since it's so warm, it would be fun." Belldandy thought aloud. Her attitude toward the whole camping out thing had turned around.

"Well the it's settled! After dinner, I'll get everything set up, since I know the most about camping!" I said with a satisfied smile.

"Yeah! We'll help, too!" Kodama and the ninjettes stood up.

"All right! Hey, do you think Skuld would want to be woken up to join us?" Keiichi asked.

"Hmm maybe. You should at least try to wake her." Belldandy said as she moved over to the kitchen to make dinner. And with that, I went off to set up some gear.

************

After dinner, I was outside making a fire pit. I had the large rocks in a circle with sand in the middle. I got some fire wood and started to make a nice box cabin set up, when Skuld came outside. She looked very relaxed. 

"I guess I did a good job." I thought as Skuld sat down to watch me build the fire.

"Why are you putting the wood like that?" she asked.

"Well you see, this particular type of fire is called a box cabin. Each 'floor' is made of small twigs and kindling." I said pointing to the top layer. "You light it from the top and it slowly burns through each floor, working its way down. It burns for a nice long time."

"Oh, neat." She sad lost in a dozed state. She stared at me for a while her eyes fixed in one spot. I wondered if she was reading my thoughts. I wanted to try an experiment. I thought the name 'Skuld' in my head as hard as I could, focusing on her. She snapped into reality and answered.

"Huh, wha?" 

"Cool! It worked." I was amazed. I tried some other stuff. 

"Can you hear me? Can you project your thoughts into my head?" I thought. Skuld looked around and then looked at me and then jumped a little. It must have been the fact that I was looking straight at her.

"Read my thoughts." I thought to her. Her eyes went wide. I sat down in front of her, not breaking eye contact.

"How did you do that?" she thought a question to me.

"I don't know. I just focused on it really hard. Are you talking to me telepathically?"

"Yes. We goddesses don't normally do this with other people. Only when we need to." 

"Cool." I spoke as I got up and went back to work.

"This guys something else." Skuld thought.

************

At around 7:00 everyone came outside. I lit the fire as Belldandy and Keiichi sat down on one of the logs I set up. Belldandy was resting her head on Keiichi's shoulder, her eyes closed. Skuld was sitting down near the fire, roasting marshmallows. Urd was sitting on another log with a cup of saké. She was looking at Belldandy and Keiichi.

"Maybe them being closer to nature, will get things moving." I heard her chuckle to herself. I sat down by the fire and pulled out a pack of graham crackers and a couple chocolate bars from the snack bag I prepared earlier.

"Why do you have those?" Skuld asked as she munched on a marshmallow.

"They're for making smores." I replied. "It's a really yummy snack." I said after seeing the puzzled look on her face.

"You take your marshmallow and put some chocolate on it and put it over the fire. Then you put it between two graham crackers like this." I explained as I made a smore. I handed it to her and she took a bite.

"Mmmmm! It's almost as good as ice cream!" she smiled, wiping chocolate off the corner of her mouth. After a bit off talk and star gazing, we all started to hit that sack.

"Aw! But I'm not sleepy!" cried Urd.

"Well why don't you get Travin to give you a relaxing massage? It did the trick for me." Skuld joined in. "That's what I need." Skuld said as she walked over to her sleeping bag.

"Yeah I know what else you need from him!" Urd teased as she walked over to me. I was blushing a little. 

"Don't start with me!" Skuld yelled.

"Well? Can I have one of these 'miracle massages'?" Urd asked.

"Uhh…sure! Why not." I replied.

************

Belldandy watched as Travin massaged Urd's back. Urd seemed to be enjoying it quite a bit. But Travin had no expression on his face, like he was only focused on his task. She'll have to get him to teach her how to give massages like that so she can give Keiichi massages. She saw Travin look up at her for a second and then look back down.

"I can teach you if you want." Belldandy heard his voice in her head. She looked at him and saw he was looking straight at her. Urd had fallen asleep and he put her blanket over her.

"How are you doing that?" she asked him with her mind. She saw him concentrate really hard and he told her that he needed to focus really hard and told her that he did it to Skuld, too.

"Oh. It would be nice if you could teach me." She thought to him.

"No prob." Travin said quietly with a smile.

"My turn!" Skuld said happily as she lay face down.

"Man, my hands are getting tired!" Travin joked as he sat down next to Skuld. Skuld relaxed instantly as she felt Travin's warm finger sweep gently over her back. Even though she had a shirt on, she could still feel their smoothness. She soon fell asleep.

************

Skuld woke up to the sounds of clacking.

"Mmrr. What' s that…yawn…noise?" she groggily wondered. She looked up to see a pile of thick bricks. She looked up to see Travin standing over them.

"Time to wake up!" he said. Then he punched the pile.

**CRACK**

**SMASH**

The crack went straight through the pile and sent the bricks tumbling to the ground. The loud explosion of rock woke everyone up with a start. Travin landed with a soft thud, then proceeded to clean up the mess very quickly.

"WHAT WAS THAT?" Urd screamed. She was cranky for being woken up like that.

"What's going on?" Belldandy asked rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Yeah?" Keiichi added.

"Breakfast time! Lumberjack style!" Travin grinned. He brought a plate to everyone. On the plate was a stack of three pancakes, a few strips of bacon, some eggs, and a piece of toast.

"Maple syrup is over here, if you want it!" he called.

"What is this?" Skuld asked, looking at her plate.

"They're pancakes! Try them, they're really good. Here let me add some maple syrup." Travin said as he poured maple syrup on her pancakes. Belldandy took a bite.

"Wow! These are great!" she exclaimed happily as she ate more.

"How do you find these recipes?" Keiichi asked. "They're terrific!"

"I have them all the time back home." Travin replied. After everyone had finished their meal, Travin came up with an idea.

"Hey I got an idea!" He exclaimed. "Since today is going to be a hot one, let's all go down to the beach!"

"Yeah! Sounds good!" everyone said. Everyone, except Keiichi.

"Yeah, it would be fun if I could swim!" Keiichi said sadly.

"Oh, don't worry about it Kei!" Belldandy comforted him.

"You can't swim?" Travin asked. Keiichi shook his head. "Well then I can teach you!" 

"You can?" everyone asked in shock.

"Yup! After all, I *am* a lifeguard." Travin said with pride.

"Okay! I'm in!" Keiichi agreed, inspired that he could finally learn to swim.

************

Down at the beach, it was nice and sunny. It was about 27°C out. Not a cloud in the sky. A perfect day for the beach.

"Okay. Let's begin." I instructed. Keiichi and I were in waist deep water.

"Alright." He said.

"First, you should get used to being underwater." I told him. "So I want you to put your head under the water while holding your breath for ten seconds, got it?" 

"Yeah." He said. Then he dunked his head under the water. Ten seconds later he emerged.

"Now that wasn't bad, eh?" I asked.

"Nope!" he replied, happily.

"See if you can go for twenty seconds."

"I'll try." He dunked under. When he surfaced, I told him that he was now ready to move to the next level.

"That was it?" He asked.

"Yeah. Pretty easy, huh." I told him.

"Now we get you to float." I told him. I then instructed him to lie on his back, trying to float in the water. I did it myself and then he tried.

"Aa! I'm sinking!" he cried as he began to sink.

"Breath in more air." I said. "And lie like this." He did so and floated back up.

"Weee! I'm floating!"

"You see the basic concept to floating is that the air in your body creates buoyancy, like a beach ball in the water." I explained.

"Oh I see." Keiichi said.

"Okay, now it's time for the real thing." I said.

"Okay. I can do this." Keiichi said with focus written all over his face. He *really* wanted to learn how to swim.

"Yes you can. It's very easy once you get the hang of it." I ensured him.

"First is treading water. Let's go out a bit deeper until it's up to your chin. This way if you want to stop you can still stand up."

"Sounds like a plan." He said as we waded out deeper. After I got him treading water, I showed him how to swim on his back, so he could always have his head above the water.

"Yeah!! I'm swimming!!" he shouted with joy.

"Yeah!!" I shouted.

"Would you like to try the breast stroke?" I asked.

"Yeah, I bet he could use some advice on that!" Urd teased as she floated by. Keiichi was turning a bright red with embarrassment. 

"Good thing Belldandy didn't hear." I thought.

"Pay no mind to her right now." I told him. Then I showed him how to swim on his front. He was a very quick learner. I was surprised how fast he picked it up. Soon he was swimming like a normal person would.

"Yahoo!" he shouted as he swam around in the water. We were now in the deeper water and he was successfully swimming.

"Guess what you accomplished today, Keiichi." I asked.

"What."

"You learned how to float, tread water, swim on your back, swim on your from dive under water, swim under water, and swim in deep waters!" I listed.

"Whoa!" he said happily.

"Oh Kei, I knew you could do it!" Belldandy shouted as she swam next to him and gave him a congratulations kiss.

"Yeah, thanks!" he said to his girlfriend.

"And thank you, Travin. I don't know how I could have done it with out you." He said with gratitude. He gave me a small bow. I bowed back to him. Everyone was now gathered around.

"Hey let's have a race!" Skuld shouted.

"Yeah right, Travin would cream us!" Urd complained.

"Hmm. Tell you what. I'll give you all a twenty second head start." I said with a grin on my face.

"You're on!" everyone shouted. We set the race from the shore to a buoy out in the water and back to the shore. First one back wins. 

"The loser has to buy everyone ice cream!" Skuld shouted.

"Sounds fair." I said.

"On your marks…get set…GO!" I shouted and they were off in a splash of water. I started counting.

"1…2…3…4…5…6…7…8…9…10…11…12…13…14…15…16…17…18…19…*20* !!!" then I dove under the water, surfacing a few meters behind Keiichi. This is going to be easy. I swam by Keiichi and Urd with out a problem. As a matter of fact, I was only using my arms to swim. 

"No fair! I just learned today!" Keiichi shouted as he fell behind. He hated to lose a race. I had an idea. I moved over to him.

"Hold your breath!" I shouted to him as I dove under him and lifted him on my back. I dove under again, swimming full speed under the whole pack and surfaced five meters in front. I let Keiichi go. We were about ten meters from the buoy.

"You're on your own from here!" I shouted back as I dove under the water and surfaced at the buoy. I sat there for a bit waiting for them to catch up. Once they all rounded the buoy I took off slowly. Keiichi was tied for the lead with Belldandy, followed close by Skuld, Megumi and Urd. I slowly moved up behind them. Yes, I was going to let them win. Even though I could have probably lapped them at least six time by now, I wanted Keiichi to fell good about his swimming abilities.

"I win! Yeah!" Keiichi shouted as he crawled up onto shore, huffing and puffing.

"No fair! Travin helped you!" Megumi whined. 

"Well would you want me coming underneath you and hoisting you on my back?" I retorted.

"Good point." Megumi stated.

"*I* wouldn't mind!" Urd said, flirtatiously.

"Uh…yeah." I stammered.

"Well looks like you're buying the ice cream!" Skuld cried happily as she ran off to the concession stand.

"That was fun!" Belldandy said as she hugged the tired Keiichi.

"Yeah! I won!" he said.

"I came in second! And besides, Travin let you win, and you know it!" she protested.

"Yeah well, I still won!" Keiichi replied tickling her tummy.

"Hee hee hee! Stop it, Kei!" she giggled. She started to tickle him back.

"C'mon, you guys! Let's get our ice cream!" Skuld interrupted. I went over o the booth.

"What do you guys want?" I asked.

"I'll have a strawberry milkshake, please." Belldandy asked.

"I'll have a vanilla cone dipped in butter scotch!" Keiichi asked.

"Chocolate cone, please!" Megumi asked.

"Two creamsicles." Urd said, licking her lips.

"And for you?" I asked Skuld. She was eyeing the ice cream menu.

"I'll have a super strawberry sundae." She asked.

"All righty. I'll have a…" I sat there for a minute. Something was weird. I didn't know what I wanted, for once in my life!

"Well?" the cashier asked, impatiently.

"Uh…nothing for now." I responded quickly. How odd. After I paid for the things went and sat down on the beach blanket. Skuld started to build a sand castle while Urd sunbathed. Keiichi and Belldandy sat together, eating and chatting. I thought it might be nice to practice some fire yoga here. I hadn't done that in a while. I sat down set my self into a deep trance, concentrating on raising my core temperature. If I got too hot, I could simply take a swim. I tranced out and could feel every one around me. I sensed Keiichi and Belldandy. Urd, and Skuld. Megumi. I could feel the heat.

************

Urd looked over at Travin and saw heat waves coming from him.

"What the?" she said as she got up and walked over to him. 

"Hey guys, come look at this!" she called to the others. They all circled around him.

"I think he's asleep but he's emitting heat! Touch his forehead, he looks like he's about to catch on fire!" Urd said. Skuld reached out and touched his forehead and pulled her hand back quickly.

"Ouch! He's burning hot!" she yelped in pain.

"What's going on?" Belldandy cried. "Wake him up! Do you think he's sick?"

They shook him. Nothing.

"What's wrong? Why isn't he waking up?" Skuld panicked. Suddenly, Travin's eyes shot open and he stood up and ran in to the water, which steamed around him!

"Too hot! Too hot!" He shouted as he cooled off in the water. The others stared at him.

"What the hell are you doing, scaring us like that!" Megumi yelled at him.

"We thought you were sick or something! You were practically combusting, for crying out loud!!" She raved.

"What were you doing?" Urd asked. "To make you that hot?"

"It's an exercise called fire yoga. It basically rises your body temperature and builds your energy." He stated with a guilty 'I'm sorry' look on his face.

"Well next time warn us so we don't burn our hands when we touch you!" Megumi yelled.

"Yeah!" Skuld yelled, cradling her hand. Travin slowly shrunk under the water and swam out to deeper water.

"That'll learn 'em!" Skuld said.

************

On the ride home I watched as Belldandy and Keiichi stared off into the distant sunset, which was a beautiful pinkish red.

"Oh Keiichi, what a beautiful sunset." Belldandy whispered.

"Only a fraction compared to your beauty." Keiichi softly said. Belldandy gave him a kiss on the cheek and rested her head on his shoulder.

"It was such a wonderful day, today." She said, going over the day's events in her mind.

"Yeas it was. I learned to swim, too. Something I've wanted to do for a long time." Keiichi said closing his eyes.

"It was a great summer, wasn't it Bell?" 

"Mmmm." She mumbled, drifting off on her lovers shoulder. Tomorrow, school would start up again. It was going to be his last year at Nekomi, so he wanted it to be worth it.

************

"Yeah! My first day in college!" I exclaimed happily as we ate breakfast.

"Skuld's too!" Belldandy added.

"How are you getting to school, Travin? You want a ride on my motorcycle?" Keiichi offered.

"I won't fit with Belldandy and you. Besides, I have my own bike. Which reminds me. How far is it to Nekomi Tech?" I asked.

"About 20 kilometers." Keiichi informed me. "And Belldandy nor Skuld need a ride. They use their powers to travel."

"Huh?" I questioned.

"I can transport through mirrors and other flat reflective surfaces." Belldandy said.

"And I can go through water!" Skuld stated proudly.

"Cool! But I think I'll ride my bike." I said.

"Okay, then Belldandy, you can ride with me!" Keiichi suggested.

"That would be nice!" Belldandy agreed.

"Well we'd better get going." I said as I finished my breakfast.

************

Keiichi was putting on his helmet when I brought my bike to the drive way.

"Nice bike!" Keiichi said, approvingly.

"You too! Hey I'll race ya!" I said.  
"Okay, but only if you get a minute's head start to be fair." Keiichi said.

"Okay!" and with that I was off. Luckily for me, Keiichi didn't know that I could ride my bike almost as fast as a car could go. I'd say 50 km/h.

"Holy…smokes!" Keiichi sat on his bike looking at the cloud of dust I left behind. He cranked the throttle and sped off.

"Not *too* fast, since I have a passenger." Keiichi thought, referring to Belldandy. 

He caught up to me as I was cruising down the road.   
"He's going really fast! And he's only on a bicycle!" Keiichi exclaimed.

"C'mon!" I shouted happily. We were neck and neck.

"Hey I'm waiting for you!" Keiichi shouted across the road.

"Oh yeah?" I said as I put on a burst of speed.

************

As I locked my bike, I noticed a lot of other students looking at me quizzically. Was it cause I was so young? Or was it because I was gaijin?(foreign) It didn't matter to me that much though. I looked at my schedule. I had computer programming for my first period. As I walked into the school, I felt a lot of eyes turn to me.

"Hey, can we help ya kid?" a student asked me sarcastically.

"Uh, yeah. I'm looking for room 122, the computer programming lab. Do you know where I can find it?" I asked. He stood there a little shocked.

"Uh…down the hall and to the left." He stuttered.

"Thanks!" I said as I walked off. As I rounded the corner I saw Skuld waiting by the door. She noticed me and smiled.

"What took you so long?" she joked.

"Hey I can't travel like you, so quit complaining!" I retorted.

"Yup! It sure is nice! Well. Shall we?" she said as she motioned towards the class.

"After you!" I said politely. The lab was pretty nice. Brand new Pentium four computers with 100 gig hard drives, 200 megs of SDRAM, G-force Pro video cards, all the basics of a nice computer.

"Fairly basic set up." I commented.

"This is nothing compared to Yggdrasl!" she whispered to me. "This is the ENIAC to what it would be." 

"I'll have to see this super computer some time." I said, pondering on what a computer for heaven would look like.

"Heh, maybe I'll take you some time." She winked at me. Me? Go to heaven? "Dude." I gasped. It was an overwhelming concept. The class was settling down. The professor walked in and introduced himself.

"Hello! My name is Professor Mishimika. Welcome to Advanced Computer Programming. This year we are going to learn how to create advanced programs using tools such as C++ , pearl, and a new program that just came out recently called Makeshift. To start things off, I want to know what you people are capable of. To determine this, I am assigning a project." 

A very noticeable shock swept across the room, and "On the first day" could be heard from different students. He went on. 

"You will be working in pairs so lets find out who knows how to use Makeshift. Put up your hand if you are familiar with this program." He instructed. I put up my hand thinking that there would be others who also knew how to use it. I took a look around and to my shock, no one else had their hand up. Not even Skuld. I looked at her and she responded: 

"I've never used it."

Mr. Mishimika asked me how much I knew about it.

"Well… I kinda sorta…was on the…design team…" I mumbled. All the other students whispered to each other. I heard one girl say "He's mine!" and another say "No way I saw him first!" Then Mr. Mishimika stepped in.

"You helped create it? What's your name?" he asked, as if not convinced that I had done all the language programming.

"My name is Travin Klatt." I stated. "I was on the language analysis and script creation team, responsible for creating the Makeshift programming codes." 

Mr. Mishimika picked up the Makeshift programmers guide and flipped to the credits.

"Well I'll be." He said in a shocked tone. "That's amazing! How old are you?"

"17." I replied. More gasps from the class. I was getting embarrassed. I wasn't used to be praised. 

"Okay. Now pick a partner people!" Mr. Mishimika shouted as he handed out project instructions. I was instantly surrounded by everyone in the class.

"Be my partner!" everyone was shouting. I was being pulled at from left and right. I usually worked alone, but this was a group project. I thought of a quick way out.

"I want Skuld as my partner!" I shouted. Skuld sat there wide eyed at what I said. 

"Sure why not." She replied. 

"Aww!" the students left me and went about picking other partners. I knew that I wouldn't be left alone for long, since I was the only knowledgeable source.

"Phew! Thanks for the save!" I said to Skuld, who was just looking at me.

"I thought you knew all programming languages?" I asked her.

"Yeah, but this is a new one that I haven't heard of. Don't worry, you can teach me, right?"

"Yeah sure. Well let's get to work."

The project asked for us to make a program that would aid in the making of 3-D animation. It asked for a program with all the coding, and a short film to prove that your program works. I booted up the Makeshift program and started accessing some more 'advanced' files. I notice that a small crowd was gathering behind me while I worked.

"Hmm. 3-D animation. My specialty. Heh." I said as I stared the coding for a very advanced 3-D utilization. "Okay Skuld, the basic principles of this program would be the code link ups. They dictate what you are going to create. So what you need to do is start by telling it that you want to make a visual program." I told her. She nodded and I continued. At the end of the class I had already finished the coding and was moving on to the visual acceleration for enhanced 3-D capacity. Now even Mr. Mishimika was watching. The bell rang and everyone filed out of the class.

"That's some impressive work, Travin! I can tell that this year is going to be quite interesting with you and Skuld here!" He said as we headed to the door.

"See you later, Mr. Mishimika!" we said in unison. Our next period was a spare so we decided to go check out he club sign ups.

"Finally I can check out that Auto Club that Keiichi is in! After all the testing and calculations I did for them, it's finally time I joined!" she said excitedly as we walked over to the different booths. I saw a guy with a megaphone at one booth shouting at the crowd, scaring most people away.

It was the guy I met earlier at the airport, Tamiya. 

"Hey sempai!" I shouted as we walked up to him.

"Uh hey ya guys! How are ya doin'?" he shouted. "Oops! Fergot ta turn it off!" he said apologetically. 

"Are you's guys gonna join da auto club here?" he asked hopefully.

"Well I dunno. What does it offer?" I asked. He went over the previous events and victories. It all sounded very interesting. Then Keiichi walked out from the club house.

"Hey Travin! Skuld! Are you Guys going to join?" he asked.

"Well I've made up my mind to go for it!" I said.

"Yeah me too! I've wanted to for a while!" she exclaimed happily.

"Great! You guys are gonna make a nice addition to da club!" Tamiya shouted with joy.

"Yeah it's great to have you aboard!" Ootaki joined in. "Do you race?"

"Well yeah." I said.

"What do you race? Bikes? Go carts? Dragsters? Buggies? Quads?" Keiichi asked.

"No, no, no, no, and no. I race planes!" I exclaimed with pride. Tamiya and Ootaki stared at me for a second and then turned around whispering something to Keiichi. Then they turned around with tears in their eyes.

"GREAT!! WE'LL WIN FOR SURE!!! YAHOO!!" Tamiya and Ootaki shouted.

"Keiichi, what are you guys talking about?" I asked, feeling left out.

"This is great Travin! Our next race project fits your category perfectly! We have to build a plane and race it!" he shouted with joy.

"And you's is gonna design and fly it!" Tamiya shouted happily as he grabbed me into one of his famous bear hugs.

"Cool! When do we start?" I asked.  
"As soon as possible!!" They all shouted. And with that I started to think of planes that would be good for racing. After some thought, my stomach growled, and I noticed that it was lunch time.

"Hey Skuld, do you wanna go to the cafeteria and grab some lunch? My treat!" I asked her as we walked from the club house. She looked at me and smiled.

"Sure!" and we went off to eat.

************

Skuld sat at the table in the cafeteria.

"Wow! Travin's asking me out o lunch! I wonder if he likes me? I wonder if he thinks I'm cute!" she thought with glee as Travin sat down with the food they ordered.

"Here you go! A cheese burger with fries, a large coke and a triple scoop sundae." He said as he put a tray down in front of her.

"Thank you!" she said as she began to eat. Travin had ordered two bacon double cheese burgers with two large orders of fries, an extra large root beer and a popsicle.

"Geeze! Do you think you ordered enough?" Skuld joked.

"No!" Travin said in a pouty voice. "They would let me order anymore!" he kidded. They both laughed.

"So what do you think of a Japanese college?" she asked.

"I love it! I know I'm going to have a great time here! Especially with all of you guys!" he said happily. "And I really appreciate you being my partner for that project. I was being lynched!" 

"Thank you for helping me out. I just can't believe that a mortal such as your self would gain the upper hand on a goddess like me in computers!"

"Hey! I may be a mortal but I'm a good one!" he said defiantly. They laughed some more.

"So you race planes? Wow! That must be fun! And dangerous!" she said.

"Yeah! I've been in a couple of pangs, but no one was hurt. I'll take you up for a flight some time. You'd like it. Just you and the sky!" he said as he went off into a dream like state, looking out the window. Skuld liked to be around him. He offered a kindness that she hadn't noticed in anyone else. Maybe this is what Belldandy was talking about when she explained her love of Keiichi to her. She sighed. She looked at his face, still looking out at the clouds. He had a face that was strong, yet soft and warm. His eyes were a deep green with a hint of lime near the center. She felt like she could get lost in his eyes. She looked at his dark blonde hair. How it spiked forwards, and out of control. She was sitting there for a while when Megumi ad Sora cam over.

"Hey you guys!" Megumi said as she walked up. "How are you liking it so far?"

"It's great! I'm having lots of fun! We just joined the auto club!" Travin said happily, coming out of his stare.

"Hey Skuld… Skuld?" Sora asked as she noticed Skuld staring off into space.

"Mmm?" she replied softly.

"Something caught your attention? Or should I say…someone? Hmm?" Megumi said as a sly smile came over her face. Skuld sat straight up, her face turning red. Luckily, Travin hadn't noticed.

"Care to join us?" Travin asked.

"No that's okay, we already ate. Besides, you two look like you're enjoying yourselves as it is!" she said casting a glance at Skuld who was turning bright red and staring at her plate.

"Lucky for you he's clueless!" Skuld whispered to Megumi. Megumi laughed and went off.

"See ya later!" Sora said over her shoulder.

"Yeah!" Travin said. "They seem like friendly girls!" 

"Yeah, sure. Let's get going. Don't want to be late for next class." She said getting up to take her tray to the counter. Then they left for class.

************

I rode my bike home and rode through the main entrance to the temple. I saw the ninjettes training in the yard.

"Hey guys! How goes it?" I asked as I put my bike in the garage. The all saw me and ran over to me. Jumping on my back and grabbing my legs, wrestling me to the ground.

"Hey come on! Take it easy!" I laughed.

"How was your learning experience, Sensei?" Kodama asked as she plopped herself on my chest.

"It was a lot of fun. Much to be learned and experienced." I said.

"We were practicing our kata's, want to watch?" Hikari said excitedly.

"Yeah! I'd be honored to watch!" I said as I got up and walked over to a spot on the grass to sit down. The three ninjettes lined up and bowed then went into their routine. Their movements were graceful and precise, showing a great deal of practice. When they finished I stood up and bowed to them.

"Domo arigatou." I said.

"Domo arigatou gazimeshita." They said as they bowed.

"Now I'll show you one of my kata's." I said as I walked into the opening. I got into my ready stance and bowed in the kata. 

"Kata 'Tenchi'." I said. I began the kata. The kata represented the battle between heaven and earth. It was a very complex kata, and my favorite. My energy was building for the final technique. It was what I liked to call 'empty hands' because it was reaching towards the heavens with your left hand over your right hand. The next movement represented the mountains in a neko-washidash stance. 

************

Skuld walked out into the yard when she got home from school and saw Travin and the three Ninjettes there. She watched as he got up and bowed. 

"Kata 'Tenchi'." He said.

"Heaven and Earth?" Skuld thought to her self. She watched on, intrigued by Travin's gracefulness. When he finished, he bowed and the Ninjettes came up to him and bowed. Then they applauded him and wrestled with him some more.

"He's something else." Skuld thought to herself. "I wonder if he wants to 'go out' with me as they say. What would I do if he asked? Would I say yes? Would it be fun?" she thought of what it might be like to go out on a date with Travin. She was phased out again. She didn't even notice him walking up the steps.

"Hey Skuld." He said casually, snapping her back to reality. She blushed a little.

"You okay? You look a little red? Do you have a fever?" he asked as he put his hand on her head.

"Seems normal to me?" he said.

"Oh it's nothing!" She said as she quickly went back into the house.

"I wonder about her sometimes." Travin thought to himself. 

************

After dinner I decided to dork on the airplane. I had narrowed it down to three design choices. A half scale P-51D Mustang, a great racer with good climb and handling, an AT-6 Texan (aka N.A. Harvard) which was another good choice, or an Extra 300-S. I decided to go with the Mustang as it was my favorite plane and I would love to build one. I had plans for one already, and pictures to do scaling from. All I need to do was put a modifies engine that fits the racing standards. After drawing up some quick modifications on the plans, I went to bed. Tomorrow was Skuld's 17th birthday in mortal terms.

************

Skuld lay in her bed, too excited to sleep. Tomorrow was going to be her first 'birthday' on earth. Last year, she celebrated it in heaven. But this year, Kami-sama was letting her celebrate it on earth. She wondered if Travin knew it was her b-day tomorrow. Did he get her a present? Maybe he was going to ask her out. 

"If he does, I hope he doesn't do it in front of everyone." She thought.

"We'll see tomorrow." She said as she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

************

The next morning Skuld got up early and went over to the kitchen where Belldandy was making breakfast. It was really early so no one else was up.

"Hey Skuld! Good morning!" Belldandy smiled as Skuld wandered up to the counter.

"Morning." She mumbled, wiping the sleep from her eyes.

"Happy birthday!" Belldandy said giving her a hug. "17,000 years old! Congratulations!"

"Thank you!" Skuld said happily. Gods and goddesses aged in the equivalent of 10,000 years to every 1 mortal year, but their appearance changes like a mortal does so she looks like an average 17 year old teen.

"What do you want to do for today?" Belldandy asked her. An image of herself and Travin on a date popped into her head.

"I don't know… but I still have school today." She said.

"Well, what ever you want to do just ask!" Belldandy said happily as she turned back to making breakfast. Skuld thought of something that she needed some advice for.

"Um… Belldandy?" she asked, playing with her hair.

"Yes, Skuld?"

"Do you think that Travin likes me?" she asked shyly.

"I'm sure he finds you as a good friend." She said as she cracked an egg and poured it into a bowl.

"No I mean *likes me* likes me." She said a bit quieter.

"Oh! I see. Well it's hard to tell with him. For some reason he can hide all emotions and thoughts when ever he wants, like a good poker player. But I think that he likes you maybe more that a friend deep down." Belldandy said with a sly little smile on her face.

"Oh you really think so?" Skuld asked hopefully. Belldandy nodded.

"Why, do *you* like him like him?" she smiled.

"Of course not! He's just a mere mortal male." Skuld rejected the idea, folding her arms.

"And so is Keiichi." Belldandy whispered in her ear. "Don't hide your feelings Skuld. Tell him how you feel."

"I'm not hiding my feelings." She said as she walked out of the kitchen.

"How am *I* supposed to tell him how I feel?" she thought depressingly.

************

When I got to the campus, I went straight to my first class. Mechanical engineering. I was going to start building my plane today. When I told Keiichi and the other auto club members my plans they were ecstatic. They started ordering parts right away. This class, I was going to set up the engine nacelle and do some calculations for the horse power and torque output necessary for maximum speed and efficiency. Skuld was standing over my shoulder watching me work.

"So what are you going to do for your project?" I asked her.

"Maybe a new robot, or something." She replied.

"Sounds cool, could you double check this calculation?"

"Sure." She said as she eyed the torque output formula. "Looks good to me."

"Great! Now I can start to build. This'll be fun. Wanna help?" I offered.

"Sure! After all, I'm in the auto club as well." She said happy to help.

"Okay, first I need you to assemble this piston shaft and arc weld it to this crankshaft pin. Good, now link up the other pistons in the same fashion." I instructed her. She quickly and precisely put the parts together, with machine like accuracy.

"Supoibe! Now connect all 12 to the crankshaft using the alignment on the plans." I said pointing to the big layout of the Boeing 900 custom turbo engine. It delivered exactly what I needed o race with. While she worked on the pistons, I was busy with the fuel injection system. This was a crucial element in my engine. At high speeds, the fuel had to keep a steady flow rate to the combustion chambers so that it won't choke out. A good fuel injection system was compulsory. After we finished that task, I assembled the cam heads and intake outtake valves for each cylinder head. Then on to the power train. 

"Man this is a big engine!" Skuld commented.

"Yeah, well I need it to be. I need a lot of power to race the plane that I'm going to build!" I said.

"You mean *we're* going to build!" she corrected me.

"Yeah, yeah, just hold this down while I fit the power train into place."

************

After school, Skuld was excited about what was planned for her birthday. She was hoping that it would be something really fun. When she came through the bath tub, she noticed that everyone was home but Travin.

"Hey where's Travin?" She asked.

************

"That will be ¥2500 please." The saleslady said. I paid for the five tickets and headed home.

"I hope she likes this." I thought happily to my self. I knew Skuld loved mecca, so I decided to give her five tickets to the next 'Battlebots' show, tonight at the TV station. One for her, me, Keiichi, Belldandy, and Urd. Unfortunately, Megumi was busy tonight so she couldn't come. Along with the tickets, I had bought her a necklace with a green gem stone in the middle with her name engraved on the back.

"Do you think it's too much?" I thought. "Nah, it's like her first birth day on earth! A special occasion!" I decided. Boy was she going to be surprised!

************

As everyone sat down for dinner, Skuld noticed a small pile of gifts on the table in the living room.

"Oh boy!" she thought. "Presents for me?" After dinner, Keiichi dimmed the lights and Belldandy brought in a cake with 17 candles lit on it. Everyone started to sing Happy Birthday.

"Now make a wish and blow out the candles!" Keiichi said happily. She thought of her wish. She wanted Travin to ask her out on a date. Then she blew out the candles. But one didn't go out!  
"Oh! Looks like someone has a boyfriend!" Urd teased.

"Oh shut up! I bet you used magic to keep it lit!" she accused her jokingly, even thought she knew she hadn't.

"Well, on to the presents!" Keiichi said happily as he stood up and walked over to the living room table. He brought his gift over to her and placed it in front of her. Everyone else followed suit.

"I saw the way your old one looked and thought you might need a new one!" Keiichi said happily as she ripped off the wrapping, revealing a new soldering set.

"Wow! Thanks Keiichi!" she cried with joy.

"Happy birth day, Skuld!" Belldandy said, placing a gift in front of her. It was a red knitted sweater. She held it up to herself.

"Oh thank you Big Sister!" she exclaimed.

"Here you go, kiddo!" Urd said as she handed her a card with five gift certificates to her favorite ice cream parlor.

"Thanks a lot Urd!"

"Next is my gift!" Travin said, giving her an envelope. She opened it, and inside were five tickets to tonight's 'Battlebots' show!  
"Oh wow! My favorite show in the whole universe! Alright!" she shouted with joy.

"Well, we'd better get going! Don't want to be late!" Travin said motioning to the door.

************

As we settled into their seats, the lights went down and the show began. The announcer introduced the first even. Battle royal.

"Twenty yen says the first like *five* bots are wedges or arm actuators!" I whispered to Skuld, who nodded in agreement. The bots were introduced and the games began.

"Oh man this is so cool! Thank you ever so much, Travin!" Skuld shouted with joy as the mechanical carnage went underway.

"Man! The Impaler Bot just got put onto the kill saws! Holy! His servo's are toast, he is outta there!" I shouted as one of the bots got thrown onto the circular saws, shooting sparks everywhere. 

"I could build better bots than these!" Skuld shouted with pride.

"Oh yeah?" I challenged. 

"Yeah!"

"Well we'll have to have a battle some time!" I suggested with an aggressive tone.

"Bring it on!" she said and we both laughed.

************

When we got back home after the show, we piled into the living room. Belldandy started to clean things up and Urd went to watch TV.

"That was *so* much fun!" Skuld exclaimed as she picked up her presents.

"Yes, thank you for taking all of us!" Belldandy said. Everyone else said thank you to me, too.

"You're all very welcome!" I said with happiness. Skuld gathered her things and went off to her room. I thought this would be a good time to give her my real present. I knocked on her door. My heart rate was increasing a little. I'd never been this nervous before, so why was I now? She called me into her room.

"Hey, I uh wanted to give you my *real* present." I said. She looked at me quizzically. 

"It's to signify your first birthday on earth!" I said as I pulled out the necklace. Her eyes went wide with shock.

"Oh! My!" she said as she slowly took it from my hand. She put it on, The green went well with her sweater she was wearing. She went over to her mirror.

"Oh thank you Travin! It's beautiful!" she cried softly. She looked at the back and saw her name engraved on it.

"I've never really had any jewelry before! It's so gorgeous! The same colour as his eyes, too! Oh when my friends see this they'll turn even greener!" she thought joyfully to herself.

"Happy Birthday Skuld." I said as I closed the door to her room. I walked back to my room and went to sleep.

************

Skuld sighed as Travin left her room. She sat down on her bed and looked at the necklace he gave her.

"Damn! I thought he was going to ask me out for sure!" she said disappointed.

"Don't worry, he'll come around, sis!" said a voice from behind the door. Urd poked her head around the corner.

"Urd! Did you…" Skuld stuttered, starting to blush.

"Hear anything? Oh maybe a couple tidbits!" she said slyly.

"Owww!" Skuld said angrily, hugging her knees to her chest.

"Hey! It's okay, Skuld!" Urd said comfortingly, to Skuld's surprise. "I can help get you two together if you want!" 

"I'd have to be crazy to trust you! You'll probably give him some potion that'll make him go crazy!" Skuld said.

"No I wouldn't! And that was an accident! That stupid Sayoko messed everything up!" Urd said, remembering the time she gave Keiichi one of her potions. "I can make it so that he's interested in you!"

"Oh yeah? How?" Skuld questioned.

"If you wear this perfume around him, it'll drive him nuts over you! In a good way, that is, not crazy, as in psycho crazy." Urd said handing her a little vile of perfume.

"How does it work?" Skuld asked, cautiously.

"It contains the pheromones that attract men, only it's *ten* times as strong! Just try it once on some one and I guarantee it will work." Urd said as she got up to leave.

"Yeah, we'll see." Skuld said as she put the perfume away in her drawer. Tomorrow was Saturday, and she could try it out in the park.

************

Skuld woke up early and got dressed. Today she was going to try the perfume that Urd gave her on some unsuspecting guys in the park. When she got out of the house, she put a little on her neck.

"That should do it. Now on to the park!" she said as she set off in the direction of the park. When she got there she started to go for a jog. Instantly, she noticed a group of guys following her down the trail. She turned left and ran the other way. They followed her. She stopped and turned around.

"Why are you guys following me?" she asked a little annoyed. On eof the guys spoke up.

"Uh…could we have your phone number?"

Skuld burst out laughing. It actually worked! Urd had bested herself this time.

"No, sorry! I'm with someone already!" she said as she ran off.

"Lucky guy!" Skuld heard them say as she ran back to the temple.

"Now to try it out on Travin!" she thought happily. "If this doesn't get him, I'll have to ask Belldandy for some help."

************

When Skuld got in the house, Urd Belldandy and Travin were just sitting down, as Keiichi walked over to his workshop.

"This'll be great!" she thought.

"Morning, Skuld! Where were you?" Belldandy welcomed her as she walked into the dining room.

"Oh, just out for a jog." She replied cheerfully. She walked over and sat down across the table from Travin.

"Morning Travin." She said as she sat down.

"Morni..Ack!" Travin choked out, grabbing his throat. His face was turning a dark blue. He fell back and collapsed onto the floor.

"Oh my Lord! What's wrong? Is he choking?" Urd screamed as Travin lay passed out on the floor.

"I don't know! He just passed out holding his throat!" Skuld cried. She didn't know what was going on. 

"Maybe it's the perfume!" Skuld cried to Urd.

"Are you wearing it now?" Urd asked as she and Belldandy lifted Travin up and brought him into his room.

"Yes, but nothing like this happened in the park!" Skuld cried.

"Better go wash it off, just to be safe!" Urd said.

"Okay." Skuld said as she rushed to the bathroom. She rinsed her neck where she put the perfume on.

"What could have gone wrong?" she thought desperately.

************

Back in Travin's room,

"What sort of perfume did you give her, Urd?" Belldandy asked a she looked hopelessly at Travin. His breathing was shallow, and he was a little blue in the face.

"It was only some of my 'Attraction 10' perfume! There wasn't anything else in it, I promised her that when I gave it to her!" Urd protested. Something in her voice made Belldandy believe she wasn't lying.

"I believe you, Urd. But what is wrong with him?" she asked. Keiichi walked up beside her and put an arm around her shoulder. She hugged him back.

"Maybe he's allergic to perfume?" he suggested.

"That's it!" Urd said. She placed her hands on Travin's forehead. "Aha! He *is* allergic to perfume! Very allergic, I might add. He'll be alright in a few minutes, he just needs some air."

"Oh Keiichi! You're a genius!" Belldandy said, giving him a big kiss.

"Oh…uh…thank you!" he stammered.

************

Skuld sat in her room, crying. She had made Travin the way he is now.

"Oh why did I trust Urd!" she cried as she threw the little vile of 'Attraction 10' perfume into the garbage. She curled up into a little ball and cried into her knees. She heard the door open, and looked up to see Urd walk in.

"Go away! You messed everything up!" she cried.

"Look Skuld, I didn't know he was allergic to perfume, honest!" Urd said, sitting down next to her.

"He…was allergic…to it?" she sniffled.

"Yes. Apparently, he's allergic to most types of perfume, so we're going to have to watch what we wear now." Urd said comfortingly.

"I'm sorry, Urd, I thought it was your fault." Skuld cried.

"That's okay. If you want I can whip up something else?" Urd offered.

"No that's okay, I'll do it on my own." Skuld said. Urd got up and left.

"I'll ask Big Sister for some help." Skuld thought.

************

I opened my eyes and found myself in my room. I coughed a little and sat up.

"Oh man. I hate perfume." I thought, clearing my throat again. I wondered why Skuld was wearing perfume in the morning.

"Wait a minute! Skuld's never worn perfume before!" I thought. That's odd.

Why did *I* have to be allergic to perfume? What a drag. Now Skuld probably thinks she killed me and can't go near me anymore.

"Crud!" I sighed in english. I got up and went into the living room.

"Are you feeling any better, Travin?" a concerned Belldandy asked.

"Yeah, I'm just allergic to perfume, that's all. Just need to get some fresh air." I said sadly.

"Yeah, we read your mind and found out." Urd stated.

"Oh well, at least that's cleared up!" Keiichi said cheerfully. "You wanna go and work on the plane?"

"Yeah sure! I've got some great renditions I need to do to make it more maneuvrable." I agreed and we left for the club house.

************

Skuld looked around the corner to see if Travin had left. She walked into the living room where Belldandy was knitting something for Keiichi. 

"Um…Belldandy, could you give me some advice?" Skuld asked shyly.

"Why of course, Skuld!" Belldandy said, happy to help her younger sister. "What do you need help with?" 

"I want Travin to notice me, so that he'll ask me out." Skuld said quietly, embarrassed of her personal request.

"Oh, I see." Belldandy said, setting aside her knitting needles. "Well, why don't you try being with him more often? Do what he likes to do. Give your love to him and he will give his, I know that he is a good soul and will return the favor tenfold."

"Oh thank you Big Sister!" Skuld said graciously as she got up and went over to Travin's room. She opened his door and saw him lying in the floor, staring at the ceiling. He was listening to this very sad music (Author's note: Clubbed to Death by Rob D). He just lay there in a trance like state, the music almost reflecting his inner feelings. He didn't even notice her enter. She tried reading his thoughts, hoping she could get through. She peered into his mind. As images started to form, she noticed the same image as before, when she read his dreams. He was just standing there. Just him. Alone.

"That's it!" she gasped as an incredible sense of loneliness came through to her almost knocking her down. No wonder he hides his thoughts! He was overwhelmingly lonely! Not the type of loneliness that meant having no friends, but having *nobody* to love. He was almost forbidden to have someone to love. Memories played through his head about previous experiences in his life were he was torn from love. People refusing him and not giving love in return for the massive amounts of love that he gave, forcing him to just give love and not expect any in return. To give and not receive. This brought sadness to her heart, seeing one who has never been truly loved by anyone but his family.

"I have to do something about this." She thought. Suddenly she was cut off from his thoughts as he closed his mind and began to come out of his trance like state. Skuld chose to exit and come back in, in a minute or so, so that he doesn't realize she was there. She waited outside his door and then re-entered.

"Oh hey Skuld, I was thinking. Do you want to go flying?" Travin asked as she opened the door.

"Sure! But where?" she asked, more than happy to spend some time with him.

"I know of a place." Travin said as he got up and got his coat.

************

When they arrived at the air field, I noticed Skuld looking at one of the aircraft landing.

"Were going to fly in one of those?" she asked pointing to the glider landing.

"Yup!" I said happily as I walked over to my Dad's old business friend who moved to Nekomi a year ago.

"Hey Mr. Marshall!" I shouted in english over to him.

"Well I'll be! Travin! How are you doing? What brings you to Nekomi?" he said happily as he shook my hand.

"I'm going to college here! I got a scholarship!" I said and explained a bit more.

"Well that's great to hear! How's your dad?"

"He's doing great! Working on some things for the Health Sciences Center, as usual!" 

"So uh, who's this fine young lady?" he said, nodding to Skuld.

"This is my friend Skuld! I'm staying with her sister's boyfriend. We are all staying in the same temple."

"Very pleased to meet you!" Mr. Marshall said, shaking her hand.

"Thank you!" she said in english.

"So what can I do for you today, Travin?" he asked.

"I was wondering if you had a glider we can use for the afternoon." I asked.

"Of course! Anything for an old friend! You can use that one over there. A tow plane will be taking off for you in ten minutes." He said graciously. 

"Thank you so much!" I said cheerfully and made my way over to the glider. It was white with a blue stripe down the side. It was practically brand new!

"This is great!" I said happily doing a check over of all the control surfaces and all other check that I need to do before takeoff. 

"Here, take this wing and I'll take the other, and let's walk it over to the launch area and get her hooked up!" I instructed Skuld as I picked up a wing tip. After we got the tow line hooked up we were ready to launch.

"Okay Skuld, hop in the front seat there." I said getting into the back seat. I wanted her to get the full experience of powerless flight. As I closed the cockpit I noticed her looking a little nervous.

"Don't worry Skuld, this is very safe and very enjoyable! Just sit back and relax!" I calmly said to her.

"Okay." She said softly. That seemed to work. 

"Get ready to take off." I said. There was a little jerk and we started to move. As we gained speed, the nose lifted up off the ground. Then we broke away from the ground and were flying normally now.

"Wow! That was neat!" Skuld said joyfully.

"Wait until we release from the tow plane!" I said excitedly. When we got to around 7500 feet I told her I was going to release from the tow plane.

"Hang on!' I said as I pulled the big red lever. The glider dropped suddenly a bit and I brought it into a nice steady climb.

"Oh!" Skuld cried, surprised by the sudden release.

"Now we find a current, or a thermal up-rise of warm air that will lift us higher, just like the ones that ad eagle or hawk soars on." I reassured her. Coasting over to an open patch of land, I thought this would be a good place to find a thermal. I felt the craft gently soar upwards as my assumptions were correct. Thermal city! Gliding up to 7,320 feet, I let Skuld take control.

"Here, you fly for a while!" I said letting the control stick go. She gripped it tightly and I could almost *feel* her concentration.

"Hey relax, Skuld! Just let your mind be at peace and use gentle, minor adjustments." I explained. She eased up on the controls, settling into a nice five degree bank.

************

Skuld watched out the window as she flew. She looked at the city below, and saw the temple.

"Hey I can see the temple!" she said excitedly. "And Belldandy and Keiichi are out in the garden, too! I'll tell her to look up!" She cast a thought down to her sister.

************

"Look up!" Belldandy heard Skuld's voice in her head. She looked into the sky and saw a glider circling high above them. It was Skuld and Travin!

"Oh Keiichi, look! It's Skuld and Travin!" she shouted over to her love.

"Where?" Keiichi said looking around, confusedly. 

"Up there, silly!" Belldandy lofted softly. She pointed to the white glider.

"Oh cool! I bet he loves to fly! I can't wait until the races next month! We're going to win for sure!" Keiichi exclaimed, thinking of next month's Annual Inter-Japan Technical Institute Aircraft Race.

"It's so nice of him to share something he loves so much with Skuld. I think he really likes her!" Belldandy said happily. Skuld was finally growing up.

"And now she won't bother us a much!" Keiichi pointed out with joy.

"Oh Keiichi, stop!" Belldandy laughed.

"You know you want it this way, too. Come one! Admit it!" Keiichi said as he tickled her fiercely. She giggled with enjoyment.

"Stop it, Kei! Please!" she forced out between giggles. She started to tickle him back. Soon, they were rolling on the grass, engaged in a full scale tickle war.

************

"I don't believe it!" Skuld almost yelled. "Why can't he keep his perverted hands off my sister?"

"What's going on?" I said. I lined up with the horizon and peered out the window, banking to get a better view. "They're only tickling each other, no harm in that!" I stated simply. Wrong answer to Skuld.

"What are you talking about?!?" she vented. "He's *obviously* trying to seduce her!!" Skuld grabbed the controls and jammed the stick forwards. The craft dove in a heartbeat. 

"Um…Skuld?" I said, trying to calm her down. I looked over at the altimeter. 5000…4500…4000…3500.

"What are you doing?! You won't be able to pull up in time!" I yelled.

"Exactly!" she muttered. My eyes practically burst from their sockets when I saw the speedometer. The needle was past 160 knots! The over-speed light blinked on.

"Oh shit!" I swore. Diving in a glider at 160 plus knots at only 3000 feet? I had to think fast or we wouldn't make it out. I grabbed the control stick and pulled back on it with all my strength. The glider slowly brought itself out of the dive at 360 feet. I let out a big sigh.

"Man! Warn me next time you want to go Kamikaze on me!" I said to Skuld who was now shaking her fist at Keiichi, who hadn't even seen us dive.

"Well that was fun, do we land it now?" Skuld asked innocently. If I wasn't strapped into my seat, I would've face faulted.

"Yeah…sure thing."

************

Skuld ran into the temple, wanting to make sure that Keiichi was doing something to her Big Sister he would regret. Once she found her to be safe she jumped over to her sister and gave her a hug.

"Oh we had *the* coolest time! We flew around and saw you and Mr. Fresh over there!" Skuld said dipping her head over to Keiichi.

"Hey! I'm not that kind of guy, okay?" Keiichi said, a little annoyed that Skuld was belittling him. Belldandy looked over at Travin, who had a less than enthusiastic look on his face.

"So how was your flight, Travin?" she asked nicely.

"Well if the words 'over-speed' and '7000 foot near crash dive' mean anything good, it was okay." He said, looking a little upset. But he soon returned to his normal, cheerful mood. "But it was fun living some old times again."

"What sort of 'old times'?" Skuld asked.

"Well…when I was racing back at home, me and my rival used to climb up really high on the final lap, and then do a 'death at 10,000' ,as I called them, dive straight down, seeing which one of us would give first. It was loads of fun, but often got in trouble with the operators for reckless flying. Sigh. Those were the days!"

"Oh sounds awfully dangerous!" Belldandy gasped.

"Yeah, but we were careful and no one ever got hurt. Safety first in my books." Travin said. All of a sudden, he didn't have a shirt on! "BAH! WHERE'S MY SHIRT!?!" he shouted. Belldandy and Keiichi both stared at the huge scar on his chest.

"Holy…!" Keiichi began.

"Where did you get such a scar?" Belldandy said horrified.

"Um, later. What happened to my shirt? It just disappeared!" suddenly a white furry animal jumped onto his head.

"What th-" was all he got out. A sickening smack was heard through out the house hold.

"Oops…" Skuld said shocked as she realized what she had done. Her reflexes had kicked in at the sight of the bug. She dropped her hammer after the bug disappeared. Belldandy and Keiichi looked on in horror to see a trickle of blood make its way down his forehead. His face was completely blank, and his eyes. His eyes were small little dots, lost in the sea of white. Travin hit the ground with a dull thud. Skuld had smashed his head with her hammer. The magical hammer designed to take out bugs in a single shot. The hammer that had the striking force of a speeding truck. Skuld dropped to the floor in shock. She knew he couldn't be alive after taking a hit like that right to the head. She was beyond tears. She stared into his empty eyes. The life seemed to have vanished from them. All that remained was a pale green pupil the size of a pin head. She tried to shake him, hoping that he had just been knocked out, but she knew this not to be.

"Oh Father! Why did this have to happen?" Belldandy cried as she knelt down beside her sister.

"It wasn't my fault! The…the…bug j-jumped on his head! And I…I…was only…trying to…stop…the bug…" she shook with tremors of fear. Her face was a deathly white. Keiichi just looked down at Travin. Trying to take in what had just happened. Then, he stood up. Skuld gasped as she saw Travin pick himself up off the ground and rub his head.

"TRAVIN! YOU'RE ALIVE!" she cried with joy, tears flowing from her eyes. Belldandy cried tears of relief and thankfulness. Travin looked around the room with a confused look on his face. He looked at everyone suspiciously and frightfully.

"Who are you?" he asked in english.

************

Skuld gasped as she heard those words. They echoed in her mind. He had lost his memory. And it was all her fault. 

"Where am I? Wait a minute. *Who* am I?" Travin asked, fear filling his body as he couldn't remember who he was. He looked angrily at the other's.

"Who are you! And what am I doing here?" he was yelling at them in what seemed to be english.

"Well? Answer me!" he yelled. He was very frightened. As was everyone else.

"Please calm down, we can explain everything!" Belldandy tried to comfort him, but he only looked on in confusion.

"I'm sorry but I can't understand your language! I think I have to leave!" Travin said, putting his shirt on and eyeing the door.

"Belldandy, do something! I can't speak english!" Skuld cried. Belldandy tried to remember some english she had picked up in heaven. The main languages spoken in heaven are dictated by what area that sector is responsible for. Other wise, heavens language is the Yggdrasl language. Belldandy remembered her english lessons and tried to talk to Travin.

"Please…don't go! I can explain everything!" she said to him. It seemed to work. Travin stopped and sat down clutching his head. "Let me help." Belldandy said putting her hand on his forehead. She chanted a small spell in her head that would let him hear everyone else like they were speaking english, and then healing his injuries. 

"There. Now maybe we can get somewhere." Belldandy said, relaxing a little.

"Hey, my head doesn't hurt anymore! How'd you do that? Was it some kind of chi healing?" Travin asked, instantly interested.

"Sort of." Belldandy sighed, "Listen, you are Travin Klatt, do you remember?"

"No, I don't. Am I supposed to? All I know is that I'm somewhere in the middle of Japan and need to go home, where ever that is." Travin said.

"Well at least he knows half of it." Keiichi said. He walked off to his room.

"Now who's going to pilot our Mustang?" he whined.

************

"Mustang, Mustang, Mustang, Mustang…" the word echoed in my mind. What did it all mean? Who was I? Who are they? Aah! So many questions!

"Mustang, Mustang, Mustang, Mustang…" it kept repeating in my head. I couldn't put my finger on it, but that name seemed familiar. Mustang. As in the plane?  
"AARGH!" I screamed, grabbing my head. It hurt so much! I had lost my memory, and it was trying to come back! Why was it so painful though? That plane may help me get my memory back. Think harder! A plane. A P-51D Mustang! I was…building…one? Pangs of pain roared through my head. I had to continue! It was my only hope of getting my memory back!

"A plane!" I shouted.

"Yes! A plane! You're building a plane so you can race for the NIT Auto club that you, Skuld and Keiichi are in! Please remember!" Belldandy said, hoping to jog my memory.

************

"Yes! I think I remember! We were going to race and I was going to fly it! And we were going to fly against another NIT team, with a jerk leader. That…Aoshima guy. Aoshima! Belldandy! Keiichi! Skuld! Urd! I remember! OW MY HEAD!! SKULD WHY DID YOU HIT ME ON THE HEAD WITH A TRUCK?!!?" Travin yelled. Skuld ran up to him and hugged him.

"I'm sorry Travin! There was a bug on your head and I acted on reflex! I didn't hit you with a truck though, just my hammer!" Skuld said, crying into his chest. He had gotten his memory back and now she could apologize to the Travin she knew.

"Well, if you're sorry, I forgive you. Just be careful next time!" Travin said patting her on the head.

"I will!" she said and gave him a peck on the cheek. Travin turned a bright red.

"Hey Travin, what was that terrible scar on your chest from?" Keiichi asked inquisitively. 

"Oh, you guys saw that… well, it's from an accident I was in a year ago. No one else was hurt fortunately…" and he went on, telling them about the car accident, and the explosion. When he was finished, Belldandy clung to Keiichi and cried softly on his shoulder. 

"How awful!" she said between tears.

"Yeah, it's a good thing you were okay!" Keiichi said, saddened by the story.

"Anyways, let's all go down to the auto club together and put the finishing touches on the plane." Travin suggested. 

"Which reminds me. What are we going to call it?" Keiichi wondered aloud.

"How about…Epoch?" Travin opted. 

"Cool name. I like it!" Skuld said. Keiichi agreed.

"Then it's settled. Let's go!" Travin said as he headed out the door into the afternoon sun.

************

"Dammit! That was so close! I thought he was done for sure!" Mara cursed as she paced around her lair. She walked back over to her observation monitor and growled at the sight. The mortals Travin and Keiichi were enjoying themselves working on a plane, while the other goddesses watched. "How can I get those mortals? Hey! Wait a minute! That's it! I can summon some demon to do the dirty work!" Mara shouted with glee as she walked over to her big book of curses and evil summonings. "Let's see. I'll need a demon that will cause absolute chaos in their lives, but not do anything stupid like killing them. *That* would be bad. The Boss would fry me for sure! Okay, here we are! Demon of Chaos! Perfect!" she put down the book and started the summoning. There was a huge whirlwind and things flew all over the place. A big beam of blood red energy burst from the floor. When everything had settled, a man was crouched down on the floor. He stood up to his full 6'5" height. He was dressed in a black trench coat with black pants, a blood red shirt and black boots. He had black hair and dark red eyes. He practically *wreaked* of evil and chaos.

"Shiaku, Lord of Chaos, at your service." he said with an evil grin. Mara was filled with evil joy.

"And he's good looking, too!" she thought. "Okay, my name is Mara, Demoness 1st class, unlimited license, and I have summoned you to bring chaos upon the lives of a few mortals." she said.

"Your will is my will." Shiaku said, bowing to her.

"First I want you to see who you have to damn. Come over here and look." she instructed, walking over to her observation monitor. Shiaku looked at it and grinned.

"This will be easy!" he said evilly.

"Just to warn you, they are staying with three goddesses, and the mortal Keiichi Morrisato is in love with the goddess Belldandy. So be careful."

"Yes, I see. Well, I'll start right away." he said as he formed a red ball of energy and threw it through the monitor at Travin.

************

Belldandy, Urd and Skuld were sitting and talking while they watched Keiichi and Travin Put the finishing touches on the airplane. Travin walked from the front of the airplane to the back, inspecting it and making sure it was done.

"Alright! It's finished!" Travin shouted and gave a high five to Keiichi.

"It looks wonderful!" Belldandy said.

"How fast will it go?" Urd said.

"Oh about..." Travin started. All of a sudden his body fell backwards onto the floor. But still standing, was a ghost like form of Travin. Skuld screamed in terror. Belldandy, and Urd just sat there, shocked. Keiichi staggered backwards.

"His soul..." Urd stammered.

"Has been separated from his body!" Belldandy cried. It was true. Standing there was the soul of Travin. Completely out of his body!

************

"What did you do to him! You weren't supposed to kill him!" Mara yelled at Shiaku.

"Relax, I didn't kill him! His body is still alive, it just doesn't have a soul, and his soul is fine it just doesn't have a body. Just sit back and watch the chaos!" Shiaku said leaning back in his chair. Mara thought he was a little too chaotic.

************

I looked down at body. That was strange, I could see through myself. Never could do *that* before.

"Uh, what's going on?" I asked. Keiichi pointed at me and then pointed at something on the ground, sheer terror written on his face. I looked at what he was pointing at. On the ground, was me!

"What the hell?!?" I shouted. I was looking at my self lying on the floor. I was...dead.

"I'm...dead!" I whispered. "But if I'm dead, then why am I still here?" I asked. I wondered if they could hear me, even though I was dead.

"You're not dead, Travin, just...temporarily misplaced." Urd said. So they could hear me. But if I *wasn't* dead, then what was I?

"What's going on here? How did this happen?" I asked.

"Well, your soul, which is what you are right now, has left your body somehow. Don't worry, your body is still alive and well, it just doesn't have its soul." Urd informed me.

"Well then can't I just jump back into my body or something?" I asked, hoping to find a solution to this weird situation.

"Not exactly. You see, someone used magic to force you out of your body, and now it won't let you back in." Belldandy said sadly.

"We're going to have to call heaven about this! Who ever is responsible is going to pay!" Skuld said, shaking her fist.

"Well then we'd better get back to the temple. Uh...how are we going to carry me there?" I asked looking at myself on the ground. It was definitely a weird feeling, looking at yourself.

"I'll take Keiichi back to the temple so he can get his motorcycle, then he can drive back here and take you in the sidecar. Me, Urd and Skuld will transport back to the temple by ourselves. You'll have to go with one of us." Belldandy said taking Keiichi's arm and guiding him through a mirror.

"You can come with me!" Skuld volunteered. She reached out to grab my hand, but passed right through my arm.

"Here let me try." I said and I walked *into* her.

"Cool! He can travel in people's bodies." Urd said.

"Yeah well, don't get too comfy in their, it's *my* body and *I* like it!" Skuld said as she walked over to a cup of water and put her hand in it. I saw us slide through and pass about a million, what looked like pools of water, only they were every where and you could see what was on the other side. we saw the temple bathroom and hopped out.

"All ashore, that's going ashore!" Skuld said as we climbed out of the tub. I left her body and walked towards the door, only to find that I couldn't open it. So instead, I walked through it.

"Dude that is whack!" I said as I poked my head through the door.

************

When Keiichi got my body back to the temple, we laid it on the couch.

"I'll go phone heaven!" Skuld said, running over to the phone. Before she could pick it up, it rang.

"Hello?" Skuld said.

"It is I." the Lord said. "I have noticed that the mortal Travin, has been separated from his body. This is not a good thing and will be corrected shortly. That is all." and he hung up. Skuld put down the receiver and sighed.

"The Lord says he's going to fix it shortly!" she said happily.

"Thank goodness! This was getting too weird for my liking! Talk about a chaotic experience! I wonder who did this to me?" I said, relieved it would be over in a short while.

"I bet it was Mara!" Belldandy said, a bit of anger in her voice.

"No, it isn't her style. I do believe that Mara was involved, but it's too chaotic for her." Urd said seriously. Then there was a burst of green light and I was slowly moving back to my body. But for some reason it hurt!

"Aa! It hurts!" I yelled.

"Try to relax." a voice said in my head. It sounded like the man on the phone I talked to a while back. I relaxed my mind and blocked out the pain. I watched as I almost melted into my body. Then I saw the ceiling. I was in my own body again! I sat up.

"Yeah! It worked!" I shouted. Skuld gave me a hug, and everyone else cheered.

"It's good to have you back to normal!" Skuld said.

"It sure is! I was getting freaked every time I walked through something!" I said. Everyone laughed.

************

"That was a good start! Too bad it didn't last for very long." Mara said, impressed by his lack of conscience. Even she had a conscience, but Shiaku, oh no. She just hoped that he wouldn't do anything *too* chaotic and get her in trouble. She didn't want to really hurt them, only cause trouble.

"Yeah, but that rotten Kami-sama messed everything up." Shiaku complained. "I'll get them next time." he thought.

************

Keiichi and Belldandy sat on the bench by the koi pond, watching the fish swim around peacefully. Keiichi had his arm around Belldandy's shoulder, who had her head resting on his chest. Together, they sat for hours, just themselves.

"Oh Keiichi, I love you so much!" Belldandy whispered softly.

"I love you too, Belldandy. You bring warmth into my life, and fill my world with beauty.' he whispered back.

"Oh Keiichi!" she whispered looking into his eyes. "I want to be with you forever!" then Keiichi held her in a long, soft kiss. They stayed like that for almost two minutes.

"I'll be here for you for all eternity, my beautiful goddess!" Keiichi said softly as they broke from their embrace. Her words of love echoed in his mind. He loved Belldandy with all of his being. He wanted to be with her forever. He thought about asking her to marry him. Would she say yes? If she did, could she stay with him forever? Would she have to go back to heaven? He thought about it for a long time. He would understand if she had to go back to the heavens to help with any emergencies, but he couldn't bear to think about her leaving for ever. He would wait forever if that happened, but he hoped with all his heart it never would.

"What are you thinking about, Keiichi?" Belldandy asked softly.

"How I was blessed with such a beautiful goddess as you." Keiichi answered, wishing he could ask her now. But he didn't have a ring to give her. He was sure he could get one, but when would he ask? He thought for a while. 

"I'll ask her after the grad ceremony!" he thought. Since they would be out of college, it would be a good time to propose. He had a good job, and had saved up a lot of money. He looked down at Belldandy who had her eyes closed with her head on his shoulder. 

"Even though no ring can compare to her beauty, I still need one." he thought.

"After we graduate. I'll ask her!" he thought happily. Graduation was only three months away. Three months until he would ask Belldandy to be his wife, and stay with him for ever.

"Belldandy, my heart is yours." He whispered as he kissed her on the forehead.

************

Skuld was sitting in the garden after lunch, when she heard music, softly playing through the air. She walked closer to the source to see Travin sitting by the koi pond, playing a musical instrument. The instrument was long and black with many valves and keys on it. It made a very mellow, soft sound, that put a soul at peace. Skuld listened and was carried away by the songs gentle melody. She waited for him to finish his song, and sat down beside him.

"That was wonderful!" Skuld said. "What type of instrument is that?"

"It's a clarinet." Travin said.

"What was that song you were playing?" Skuld asked, wanting to know more about it.

"It was called the Yorkshire Ballad." He said, starting to put his clarinet away. "Um, Skuld I was wondering..."

"Yes?" Skuld said, happily. This was it. He was going to ask her out!

"Are you doing anything tonight? Cause I was thinking maybe we could head over to the skating rink?" he asked casually.

"I'd love to!" Skuld said happily. "YES! ALRIGHT! SCORE!" she thought. He had finally asked her out. The way he asked, though, stuck out. He didn't even hesitate. A guy who's not afraid to ask. The perfect guy! Now if only he was a god, they would make the perfect couple, but this was good enough.

"Great! How's six o'clock sound?" he said.

"Sounds good!" Skuld replied. Travin got up to leave, while Skuld stayed there. Once he was gone, she jumped up and did a little dance.

"Oh thank you, Kami-sama! Thank you thank you thank you!!" she cheered as she jumped around.

************

"So. The little brat is going on a date! This will be a good time to cause some havoc amongst the mortal!" Mara cackled to herself. 

"I have just the thing!" Shiaku laughed. Their maniacal laughter filled the dark lair, echoing off the red walls.

************

"Hey Belldandy, Urd! Guess what!" Skuld happily bounded over to her sisters.

"What is it?" Belldandy asked.

"Yeah, what's so important to take up my viewing time?" Urd said, annoyed to be taken away from her soaps. 

"Travin just asked me out!" Skuld giddily answered.

"Oh how nice! Now you two can be good friends!" Belldandy exclaimed, happy that her little sister had found someone. 

"Hehe, now I can *really* work on those two!" Urd thought mischievously.

"We're going out tonight, at six!" Skuld noted to her sisters. "we're going to go skating!"

"But Skuld, do you know how to skate? I know I don't!" Belldandy asked.

"Oh…crud…uh…what *is* skating?" Skuld asked.

"Well it's were you take two boots that have thin pieces of metal on the bottom, and you go onto an ice rink and push yourself around on them." Urd explained. "It's lots of fun, I hear." She added, not wanted Skuld to give up her date because of something so trivial.

"Well I guess I'll see when I get there." Skuld said, going off to her room.

************

I finished my dinner as quickly as I could, knowing full well what was in store for me from Urd. I excused myself and went into my room to get some things ready. The door opened and I knew who it was.

"Hey Urd!" I said cheerfully. I heard Urd let out a little 'oop!'.

"Busted!" Urd said. "Yeah, well you think you can just take my little sister out with out going through me, do ya? Punk! If you do anything to her that she doesn't like, I swear on my license, that I will cast a spell on you that will never be taken off!" she threatened.

"Eh…hehe…easy there, Urd! I'm only taking her skating!" I said, not wanting to show any fear. Older siblings have a way of telling if you are afraid or not. Not showing fear is the best way to tell them that you are and okay person.

"Just remember one thing!" Urd said, slapping her hand on my shoulder. "Show her a good time, okay?" I relaxed a little after hearing those words.

"I promise I will!" I vowed to her.

"Yeah, you'd better!" Urd said, as she left my room.

"And I thought Urd would've wanted me to do something rowdy with Skuld!" I thought to myself. Deep down, Urd was a really caring goddess, and loved her sister dearly. After I finished getting the things I needed, I changed into some nicer clothes. I wore I pair of khaki pants, a white t-shirt with a blue, short sleeved dress shirt over it. Over that I wore a spring fleece jacket. Since we were going skating. I picked up my bag that had my skates in it and looked at my watch. It was 5:50. Almost time to go.

"Better go and wait in the living room." I thought. I went into the living room and saw Belldandy and Keiichi walking out the door.

"Have fun!" Belldandy shouted over to me as she left with Keiichi for the evening.

"You too!!" I yelled back. Then Urd left.

"You just remember!" she said with a sly smile as she shook her fist menacingly at me. I just smiled back. Then she left for the night clubs.

After everyone was gone I waited on the couch for about five minutes. Then Skuld came out from the hall. She looked really good, even though all she was wearing was a blue dress with a black over coat.

"You look nice!" I said, trying not to stare. She blushed a little.

"Thanks." She replied softly. I stood up and held out my hand.

"Shall we?"

"Let's." And with that we were off. It was about a ten minute walk to the ice rink. It was a warm summer night, with a gentle breeze blowing in from the east. When we got to the arena, I paid the admission and we went to the changing benches. After renting Skuld some skates I helped her put them on.

"Have you ever been skating?" I asked.

"No, before now, I'd never even heard of it!" she laughed.

"Well that's okay, I can teach you!" I said reassuringly. After her skates were on I put on mine. They were hockey skates I had brought with me from my home back in Canada. I didn't think I was ever going to use them here, but packed them just in case. Lucky me! After I finished lacing up, we walked over to the ice. Skuld was a little wobbly getting over at first, but soon grew accustomed to wearing skates.

"Are you sure this is safe? Ice is a very slippery surface!" she said, eyeing the ice cautiously. I stepped out onto the ice, showing her it was okay.

"It's fine, just take my arm for balance." She grabbed my arm and stepped out onto the glassy surface. There were a lot of people here, ranging from all ages.

"Oh! I look silly, and I'm going to fall on my butt!" Skuld whined.

"Just relax and try to keep your balance. Bend your knees, and if you feel like you're going to fall, push out with the blades to stop yourself or grab onto something." I said.

"He better stay by my side for the whole thing, or I'm gonna fall!" Skuld though to herself.

"Okay. Let go of my arm and see if you can stand up. If you feel like you're going to fall, grab my arm." I instructed. Skuld let go of my arm and wobbled around a little, then stood upright. "Good! You can keep your balance very well!" I congratulated her. She smiled sheepishly at me.

"Yes, well I hope I can for the rest of the night!" Skuld said, worrying about falling and hurting her behind.

"Okay, now see if you can skate forward. First, point your lead foot forward, and push off with your back foot." She grabbed my arm and tried to skate forward.

************

Keiichi and Belldandy sat together on a bench in the park, staring at the beautiful sunset. It had been a wonderful evening so far. They had gone for a romantic walk in the park, they sat by the fountain and threw pennies in, they had gone to the shopping mall and Keiichi bought her a nice evening dress. After the sun set, they were going o go out for dinner. 

"He's so perfect." Belldandy thought as she sat in her usual position with Keiichi, her head rested on his shoulder. "I want to be with him forever. I want our souls to be together for all eternity! I wish we could be bound more than the Yggdrasl contract…"

"Belldandy?" Keiichi said to her.

"Yes, Kei?"

"Would you…" Keiichi began. He thought of asking her now, but decided to wait. There were only two weeks left until exams. He had the ring, it never left his pocket. "Like to go for dinner now?" he finished.

"Yes I'd love to!" Belldandy happily agreed. "My answer will always be yes." She thought. They got up and left for the restaurant. It was a very nice place with small candle-lit tables. Keiichi had made reservations, so they were seated right away. Keiichi gazed into Belldandy's eyes, lost in her beauty.

"You're so beautiful!" he said, gently. Belldandy blushed at the compliment. She loved it when he said such things, like a child loves candy. When the waiter came, Keiichi ordered some Darjeeling tea for the both of them.

"Tonight's a very special night, Belldandy!" Keiichi said, putting down his cup.

Belldandy thought he was going to ask her.

"Tonight is the night you and I first met, two years ago." Keiichi said, still lost in her angelic radiance. Belldandy smiled and remembered all the good times they had together, and how their love for one another blossomed into their wonderful relationship. After their meals had arrived, Belldandy watched as Keiichi ate his meal.

"Is it good?" she asked.

"Yes, but yours is by far the best I'll ever have!" Keiichi said happily between mouthfuls. Belldandy blushed again.

"It's so nice to do things like this Kei." Belldandy said starting on her meal.

"Yes, and if you ever want to do something like this anytime, just ask, and you shall receive." Keiichi said. He picked up her hand. "In this world, I don't know much, but this I know is true. That all my love is to one soul, and that one soul is you." Belldandy sat there, repeating his words in her head. She loved him with all of her soul as well.

"Oh Keiichi!" she said. And with that, the got up, and after Keiichi paid the bill, they walked back home.

************

On the walk back home, many things came to Belldandy's mind, and she wondered if she could share them with Keiichi. She didn't want to bother him with trivial things. 

"What's on your mind, Bell?" Keiichi asked, looking at Belldandy's face. It was obvious that she wanted to talk to someone.

"Oh it's nothing…" Belldandy murmured.

"Well I'm always here if you want to talk. I'll always listen."

"Well, I'm just so happy that Skuld got what she wanted."

"What's that? You mean a guy like Travin?"

"Yes, she's been head over heels for him since the day they met, she's just never shown it until recently."

"Yeah, I had hunch they would end up together. So what's troubling you?"

"Well, I can't shake this feeling that there's more to Travin than it seems. He can do things that normal humans can't. When we went camping, he talked to me with his mind!"

"You mean he's telepathic?"

"Not exactly. He knows that we gods and goddesses can read minds, so with great concentration, he can sort of 'broadcast' his thoughts at us. He couldn't do it with a normal person."

"Wow! But that's not a problem, is it?"

"No, but the thing is, I sense a great loss in him. Like there's a bad omen hanging over him all the time!"

"That's deep!"

"I don't know how Skuld would take it if something bad happened to him."

"Well, I don't think you should worry. He seems to be able to take care of himself, and then some!"

"Yes, he does!" Belldandy said laughing, remembering when Travin first arrived. He was blown up and it didn't even scratch him!

"Thanks for listening Keiichi."

"Remember, I'll listen anytime." Keiichi said as they walked through the temple gates. When they got inside they saw no one else so they decided to sit on the couch together and talked.

************

"Weee! This is fun! Yahoo! I'm skating!" Skuld giggled as she made her way around the ice rink. "I can skate almost as good as you!" she said as she zoomed by me.

"Yeah! But only skating forwards. How about backwards?" I said as I pulled in front of her and skated backwards.

"Oh yeah?" Skuld shouted. She tried to turn around to skate backwards, but failed miserably. She started to fall back ward when I caught her and lifted her up off her skates.

"Careful! You'll hurt yourself!" I laughed. She gave me a little pouty look, and started giggling. 

************

"Hmmm. I hate it when mortals are enjoying themselves. What kind of chaos shall I bring upon them." Shiaku pondered as he glowered at the couple at the skating rink, having the times of their lives. "That's it! Heh heh heh. This will bring some trouble!" He walked over to the edge of the ice rink and touched the surface with his finger. Suddenly, a huge fissure sped towards the goddess and her date, ice shards flying in its wake.

"This will be fun to watch."

************

As I was skating along I heard a strange ripping noise off to my left approaching fast. I turned my head to see a giant crack in the ice heading right for us!

"Skuld look out!!" I shouted. I had to act fast. I grabbed Skuld into my arms and jumped as high as I could.

"Eek!" Skuld screamed. I looked down to see the crack speed under us.

"Skuld we gotta stop that before it hurts someone!" I said to Skuld, who now had her eyes open.

"I'm on it!" she said. She began to emit a pinkish light, and cast both her hands towards the fissure. The crack looked like it had been rewound, and disappeared.

"That was a close one!" I said with a sigh of relief.

"Um, Travin? When are we going to land?" Skuld asked looking down at the ice.

"Oh yeah!" I had forgotten how high I was in the air. I didn't know what my landing would be like with an extra person added to my weight. In other words, this could hurt. We started our decent, the air rushing past us. I'd say we were about 20 feet in the air. One of my best jumps yet. Must be the adrenaline. I readied myself as we neared the surface, making sure that Skuld would be okay when we hit. My skates dug deep into the ice when we landed, and sharp pains went up my legs like shock waves from an earthquake. 

"Ohh man!" I thought. That was going to leave a mark! I let Skuld out of my arms.

"You okay?" I asked, trying not to look hurt.

"I should be asking *you* that!" she said, with worry in her voice.

"Nah! I'm fine, but I think that's enough skating for tonight." I replied. My legs were better now, just a little sore.

"Yeah, I'm really worn out. Casting spells can do that to you." Skuld said, her eyes were partially closed. She was exhausted!

"Let's go home, okay?" I said as we went over to the benches and took off our skates. As soon we got out the door, Skuld fainted into my arms!

"Skuld! Are you okay?" I asked, but she didn't answer. She was completely worn out from using her magic. She was now sleeping soundly on my arm. "Guess I have to carry you home." I shrugged as I lifted her onto my back and walked home. It was around ten so no one was outside to stare at a guy carrying an unconscious girl on his back. Could raise some suspicion. 

"Hey. That's the first time I've referred to the temple as my home. That's odd, but I guess it is my home for the next few years. I walked through the temple gates and up the temple stares. "I wonder if anyone's home yet?" I thought. I opened the door and looked inside. I saw Keiichi and Belldandy on the couch together. It looked like they had nodded off. I didn't see Urd anywhere, so I figured she was still at the clubs. I walked over to Skuld's room and opened the door. I heard a beep and Banpei rolled over to me. I don't think he trusted me quite yet. He looked rather defensive. 

"What happened to my creator?" Banpei said in a little mechanical voice.

"She fainted after using too much of her pow- hey! I didn't know you could talk!!" I said surprised. In the whole six months that I had been here, I had never heard Banpei talk.

"Of course I can speak you moron! After all, it *was* Skuld who created me." He said angrily.

"Hey easy, no need for name calling. It's not like *I* did this to her. I guess you're still mad at me for smashing you."

"Mad is not the word I'd use." He said rolling over to a computer console and plugging himself in. I laid Skuld down on her bed and put a blanket over her. 

"Hmm. That thing at the rink was no accident. I could sense evil. I wonder…" I thought. "Hey Banpei, run program 5, please. It'd be a good idea to make sure nobody's after us." I said over to Banpei.

"Yeah alright. But only for Skuld's sake. You know how much I'd love to see you get it!" he said as he rolled out the door and started his perimeter patrol. I looked at Skuld, peacefully sleeping. I wrote her a not and left it by her bed. It said: "Had a great time, hope we can do it again. Travin.". I started to leave, but when I got to the door, Skuld made a little whining noise. I looked over to her and saw she had a sad look on her face.

"She must be having a dream or something." I thought. I shrugged and opened the door. This time, she a louder noise. I looked at my watch. It was 12:07. I was pretty tired, and wanted to get to bed, but every time I tried to leave, Skuld would whine. So I sat there for the next three hours hoping that by then, I could go to my room. Well I was wrong. I ended up staying the whole night, just sitting there, occasionally getting up to try to leave, but was thwarted by the whine from the sleeping figure. Soon, I nodded off in my chair.

************

Skuld opened her eyes to let in the sunlight. 

"That was a weird dream I had last night." She thought back to her dream of how Travin kept leaving to someplace she couldn't go to. Almost as if he was being dragged down to hell. Skuld shivered at the thought. She sat up and bed and was startled to see Travin sleeping in a chair at her desk. His head was leaned back, staring up at the ceiling. Skuld was about to scream, but then realized that maybe her dream was a reality. She tried to remember what had happened the night before. All she could recall, though, was herself falling asleep. 

"So if I'm home…then he must have carried me here. Then he put me in my bed and started to leave, but something stopped him. Hmm." Skuld thought hard. What could have kept him from going back to his room. Then she remembered her dream. Every time he started to leave Skuld did something that made him come back. "Oh no! I kept him here, awake the whole night!! He's not going to be too happy!" Then Skuld noticed a small note beside her bed. It read: "Had a great time, hope we can do it again. Travin." Skuld sat the note down and went over to change her clothes. She didn't care if there was a guy there, considering he was fast asleep. 

************

"Hey Keiichi, come here for a sec." Urd called out to Keiichi who was busy working on some parts for his bike. "Hehe, this will be great!" she mumbled.

"What is it Urd?" Keiichi asked as he came through the door. 

"Just this." Urd said poking him on the forehead. "Tag! You're it!"

"Oh come on Urd, I don't have time to play games." Keiichi said as he walked back to his motorcycle.

"That was *too* easy! Now to sit back and watch the fun!" Urd cackled as she found a good place to watch from. "Little does that school boy know, that I, the great Cupid of Love, put a spell on him! Now, every time he sees Belldandy, he sees her with no clothes on! Hahahahaha! That should get things moving!" It was early in the evening, and the sun was setting on a now orange-pink horizon. Urd watched as Keiichi finished up on his bike and cleaned up. He put away his tools and walked back into the temple. He walked into the main room and sat down on the nice comfy couch and picked up his book. Then Belldandy came in with her knitting things.

"Yes!" Urd was practically falling off her tree branch.

"Hey Keiichi!" Belldandy said cheerfully.

"Hey Bell- !!!!" Keiichi said looking up from his book. He turned bright red and a little trickle of blood ran down from his nose. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING Belldandy?!?!" he shouted, putting a hand over his eyes. 

"Wh…what's wrong Keiichi?" Belldandy asked bewildered. Keiichi stuttered and stammered. "Y…you're n…ot wearing any c…clothes!" Belldandy was now very confused. She looked down at herself and saw she was wearing her usual pink dress and sweater.

"What ever are you talking about, Kei? I'm wearing the same clothes I've worn all day!" she got up and walked over to him. He had both his hands over his eyes and was a crimson colour in the face. "Here, feel the material!" she said reaching over and guiding one of his shaking hands to her sleeve. Keiichi felt the material there and opened his eyes, but she was still naked! He quickly shut his eyes. "Keiichi, it's okay for you to look, I love you and know you respect me." Belldandy said softly. Keiichi slowly lowered his hands from his face, but kept his vision glued to the floor. "Hmm. Keiichi hold still for a second." Belldandy said as she looked at his forehead closely. 

"Damn! She'll find it for sure! Oh well, it'll surely kick things off!!" Urd said and she disappeared into a cloud of smoke.

"I knew it! *Someone* put a spell on you! It makes you see through my clothes! Urd! How could you do that!" Belldandy said, annoyed that her sister had interfered again. But a little part of her thanked Urd for giving her the chance to say what she truly felt. She quickly removed the spell. "You can look up now!" Keiichi slowly moved his eyes up and sighed in relief. Belldandy thought about how Keiichi respected her so much. She gave him a big hug and sat down beside him. "Keiichi, you respect me so much! I love you Keiichi!!" she said. Then she whispered something in his ear. Keiichi turned even redder than before. Belldandy smiled warmly and got up to go back to the kitchen. Keiichi sat there, bewildered at what he had just heard.

"Hmmm. I wonder what she said to him to make him act like that! Hehe, there's more to you than I thought, sister!" Urd smiled. Her plan was a success in a way.

************

Skuld looked into Travin's room to see if he was there. She liked to be around him, he was the kind of person one would never get tired of. She saw him sleeping on his futon. 

"Man what a heavy sleeper! Why is he sleeping now? It's like 7:00?? Oh well. I'll wake him up! Hee hee!" Skuld thought gleefully to herself. She ran over and jumped on Travin's chest. "Rise and shine!!" She yelled in his ear. Travin didn't wake up though. He just kept sleeping. Skuld jumped up and down a little more, but to no effect. Travin rolled over, moving Skuld off of him. Then a thought came into Skuld's head. She grinned mischievously.

"Hey you pervert! Put some clothes on for goodness sake! There are young women around here!" She shouted. Travin jumped up into the air and wrapped his blanket around his waist. He ran off into his closet.

"What are you doing in my room!?!" he yelled. "What do you like looking at guys in their underwear? I was trying to sleep cause you kept me up all night last night with that whining!"

"Hahahaha!" Skuld giggled. "You should've seen the look on your face! Maybe I should come into your room while you sleep more often!"

"And your calling me a pervert!" Travin said walking out of his closet wearing some pants and a t-shirt. "I'm going training for a while."

"Oh cool, can I come?" Skuld said.

"If you want I guess. But most people think the way I train as a bit extreme." He said.

"That's okay!" Skuld said. Travin went out into the back yard. Skuld quickly followed him. When they got to the wall, Travin simply jumped over it.

"Wow!" Skuld said. She floated over the wall with her powers. On the other side was a big pile of rocks from the time Travin had broken all those bricks when they wen camping. Along with that there was a thick piece of wood sticking out of the ground that had rope wrapped around the top. 

************

I walked over to the mishi board and started warming up my fists, punching it and getting harder and faster every hit. After I felt my hands had enough training for now, I went on to do some kata and some basic power sets. After I had finished most of the major kata's I knew, I walked over to the big pile of rocks and started smashing a few of the smaller ones,

Working my way up to the large ones. I could sense Skuld sitting there watching me, which was really weird cause I wasn't used to having people watch me. I looked over and saw a nice big rock, tempting for me to break it. With a loud crack and then a crumble sound, the rock was now a pile of rubble.

"Jeeze! Take it easy!" Skuld said. She looked down at my hands which were now dripping with blood from breaking so many rocks. "Your hands!" she gasped. She ran over and held one up to take a closer look. "Why do you do this to your self?" She asked with a worried tone. Oh yeah, this was different. I've never had anyone make a fuss over my hands after I had been training. It doesn't bother me that they're like that, it never has. It's just a little blood for goodness sake!

"Hey, I'm fine!" I protested, pulling my hands back. "I just need to wash em off and maybe put some ice on them, that's all!" I smiled reassuringly. It seemed to work. "Hey watch this!" I said concentrating some energy into a pink, flower form. Skuld's eyes widened in amazement. "Hold out your hand." I said. She did and I put the form into her hand.

"It's warm!" she whispered. She looked up at me and moved closer to my face. I stopped concentrating and the energy disappeared. 

"Does she want me to kiss her?" I thought.

Instinctive Travin: She wants you to kiss her, so kiss her!

Logical Travin: I don't know, better not try your luck! She may not want you to and hate you if you do! 

Central Processing Travin: Hmmm. Can't reach a decision. Felling hungry, go inside. Manual Override engaged.

"I'd better go and wash my hands off, bye!" I said quickly jumping over the fence. I ran into the house and into the bathroom. "Phew! Close call!" I sighed.

************

"DAMMIT!!" Skuld pouted as she saw Travin jump over the fence. "Oh I was *SO* close to getting a kiss!" she floated back over the fence. As she walked over she saw Urd pouring one of her potions into a cup of tea. She saw the label on the vile. It read: Urd's Own Love of Your Dreams. Skuld remembered Urd telling her that that potion makes the user act out their wildest dreams! Who was she giving it to though? Was it for Keiichi, or was it for…Oh no! She'd forgotten to tell Urd and Belldandy that Travin didn't actually dream! So if Urd gave him the potion than something was bound to go wrong! Skuld ran into the living room only to see Travin gulping down the remainder of the tea Urd had given him! "No Urd, stop! He doesn't dream!" she shouted. Urd turned pale.

"But if he doesn't dream then…" Urd said and slowly looked over at Travin. His face was turning a purplish colour. Then there was a big puff of smoke and sitting where Travin was, there was a man!

"What the?!" Urd and Skuld both said. The man had dark blonde hair, like Travin's only a bit longer. His eye's were the same and he was a bit bigger and more built.

"What are you two looking at?" he said.

"Who are you?" both girls said.

"I'm Travin." Travin said.

"How old are you?" Urd asked. Skuld looked on hoping for the best.

"I'm 24." Travin said. Urd's face lit up.

"SWEET HE'S MINE!!!" Urd screamed. She ran over and gave him the biggest glomp ( girl jumps on guy, arms around his neck in a passionate way with eyes like this: ^-^ ) in the history of glompdom. "I'm gonna have fun with you!" Travin's face was now a bright red.

"Uhh!" he stammered.

"Yup. Same Travin, different body." Skuld though. But what was she going to do now? Her Travin was now 24! He was Urd's mortal age! Urd, who was now chasing him around the room, yelling stuff like: "C'mon, you know you want me!" or "Give in to your desire!" at him, was bound to want to date him or even worse! If he stays like this, she might even try to…at night…in his room!

"Not to *my* Travin!" Skuld vowed.

"Get your cute ass over here!" Urd shouted to him as she backed him into a corner. 

"Uh, I'd rather not!" he shouted. Seeing no other way out, he only had one option left. "Ya!!" he yelled creating a huge whirlwind, blowing Urd back onto a couch. Then he promptly ran into his room and locked the door.

"That's what you get for trying to take my Travin!" Skuld yelled, sticking her tongue out at Urd.

"Hehehe. Just you wait until later tonight when I can sneak into his room and give him a night that'll make him putty in my hands!" Urd said with an evil grin.

"Yeah, well you'll have to get through *me* first. Even if I have to stay with him the whole night, I will." Skuld growled at her sister.

"Hehe. Urd 1, Skuld 0!" Urd thought to herself. This was turning out better than she had hoped! Even thought the potion had backfired, she still was going to have her way! 

"Hey Urd, Skuld, who was that man?" Belldandy said, bewildered at the sights that she had seen after coming home from a night out with Keiichi.

"Yeah! He looked a lot like Travin, was he his brother or something?" Keiichi asked.

"Well, he is Travin. Urd gave him a potion that screwed up and made him 24 years old." Skuld sighed.

"Yeah, and now he's mine for the picking!" Urd giggled. This brought on another stand off between Skuld and Urd, and soon insults were being exchanged along with Skuld Bombs and force bolts. The match ended up in a draw as now both goddesses were gasping for air. Skuld was out of bombs, and Urd was out of energy.

"Ugh. I need some saké. But just you wait until tonight, girl!" Urd said slumping in the general direction of the kitchen. 

"Okay. I need a plan if I want to keep Travin." Skuld checked her watch. 8:30. "Good. I can whip something up and stay in Travin's room until I'm *sure* Urd won't try anything.

************

Now *this* was weird. Me, a normal 17 yea old guy, now in a 24 year old guy's body. Dude, talk about growth spurt! I knew that I looked 24, yet I knew that I had been living for 16 years. My body had been transformed into an older form of me. It's not that I didn't like the new body, but it wasn't much different from my normal one. Just a bit older, taller, more muscular, the basic chick magnet. Not to mention the cool longer hair. But anyways, now Urd was now trying to get it on with me or something, and Skuld is going to try and stop her because she probably likes me or something. 

"Damn. This sucks! I'd better think of a way out of this. I gotta get my old self back, and make sure Urd doesn't do anything 'strange' to me at night. Lessee. If the potion I was given was and ingested substance, than all I have to do is wait for it to be absorbed into my body. That should be in about a day. But that still leaves tonight…" I thought, an idea forming in my head. "Maybe I can turn this into a win/win situation."

************

"Okay. Ten o'clock. He should be asleep now, so I can get into his room and keep watch." Skuld said quietly to herself. She opened Travin's door a crack and saw him sleeping under his covers. She wheeled in a small device, stealthily into his room and set it in the corner. She then put up an invisibility shield so that she couldn't be seen, and waited.

************

Urd, in mini form, crept into Travin's room and looked around to see if Skuld was there. She didn't appear to be so she went over to the sleeping Travin and pulled off the covers.

"Hi sweetie! Huh?" She said in astonishment. Then Skuld came out of hiding.

"AH HA! Caught red handed!" Skuld yelled aiming her device at Urd. The she saw what she was staring at. Where Travin should have been, there was a pile of clothing, shaped like a person. All of a sudden, the door closed and locked, and so did all the windows. A little sign floated down from the ceiling and into Urd's hands.

"Spend some time together, and stop fighting over me. You can't get out until you are in agreement. Travin." Urd read aloud. Both stared knives and daggers at each other.

"This is all your fault!" They both chimed. They growled at each other and began a malicious fight in the midst of Travin's room.

"You're just mad because Travin is too old for you now, and doesn't like you!' Urd yelled as she tossed a force bolt at Skuld. Skuld ducked, letting it hit some stuff on Travin's shelf. Skuld answered back with a force bolt of her own.

"Am not! Travin is still 17 at heart, he's just been transformed by one of your stupid potions!!"

"Ha! You're just jealous because your chest isn't as big as mine!!" Urd taunted, easily reflecting the mass of energy. This got Skuld really upset. Ever since Travin had got there, Urd had teased Skuld about flat chested she was and how Travin would never take any interest in her. She gathered up all the energy she could manage and was about to cast a huge bolt when Travin jumped through the window.

"Alright, that's enough!" he shouted and cast two containment fields around Skuld and Urd. "I tried to get you two to get along, but now look. Just look at my room!" he said waving his arm around the room. There were four large holes in the wall, charred remains of books and things from that were on shelves, clothing strewn about. Urd tried to yell at him, but found she couldn't be heard. 

"Must be sound proof." She thought. 

"Well you two are going to stay like that until morning. I'm going to bed." And with that, he climbed under his covers and went to sleep.

************

Skuld watched as Travin, who now was looking younger by the minute, as he pulled the covers over himself. She thought it would probably be a good idea to take a nap, too. She soon drifted off into a dreamy sleep. A dream started to form in her head. She was in the temple and it was empty except for her. She got up and went outside. Something in the sky caught her attention. It was Travin, only he had wings. Large, white wings that blocked out the sun. She transformed into her true form (angel form) and flew up to him. When she got a closer look at his face, she noticed he had a circular mark on his forehead, and two diamond shapes on his cheeks. The markings of a divine being. But she couldn't recognize the markings to any god that she knew of, so what god was he? As they flew around, the sky grew darker and suddenly, Travin's wings disappeared. Skuld reached out to grab him but missed and he fell. She heard him call out two words. "I'm sorry." And then she woke up. She looked around and noticed that she was now in her own room, and the force field was gone. She jumped out of bed and ran into Urd's room, only to find her not there.

"She didn't!" Skuld gasped, and bolted for Travin's room. When she got there she saw Urd looking at a puzzled Travin, now normal aged Travin, from her force field.

"Urd, what are you doing in my room, let alone a containment field." He asked. Skuld let out a big sigh.

"You mean you don't remember?" Urd asked.

"No, all I remember is that I drank some tea, and I woke up here with a headache. So start talking." He said eyeing the two goddesses suspiciously.

"Well…" Skuld told him the whole story, not leaving out a single bit, hoping that he would be mad at Urd.

"I see." Travin said, staring off in to space. Then he got up and went to eat breakfast.

************

My life just keeps getting weirder and weirder. I mean I just find out that I spent the night as a 24 year old, having one goddess trying to sleep with me and another trying to stop her. Things were pretty crazy. I sat there munching on some cereal and occasionally sipping my orange juice. Good thing there was no classes today, other wise I would have missed a class, because I didn't want to move right now. I wasn't mad, but I had to think. I needed time to take in what had been happening for the past six months. Besides, I still had to focus on next weekend's race!

"Man, that will be a blast. Hmm, speaking of which, the project Skuld and I are working on is due in two days. Hehe, that'll sure knock the socks off of ol' Mr. Mishimika!" I thought aloud. The movie we had to make was a really good one. I had a bunch of mecha's fighting each other and planes and explosions, some really hard stuff to do with CG. I went over to the computer to see that it was already on. It was logged on to some strange system with script languages that I'd never seen. The program was so advanced, I just *had* to take a look at it. Using my knowledge about computer languages I started to find a way to decipher the characters, but it was too advanced. I tried typing in some codes and watched as strange things started to happen in my mind and everything started to fit together. It all was making sense. Then I realized what I had stumbled onto. It was heaven's computer system and everything was there. My mind hurt just reading it all, trying to take it all in. I completely understood the characters on the screen now. Then I heard the door open behind me.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Skuld yelled running over to me and turning off the computer. "What were you doing in there?" she asked.

"I was only looking, it was on when I got here." I protested.

"What did you see?" she said grabbing me by the shoulders. But for some reason, I couldn't respond. I tried to speak, but I couldn't.

"I…understand…" I spoke, but not in Japanese or English. It was in the new language I just learned. Skuld's eyes went wide with shock.

"Oh no!" was all she could gasp.

************

"Where are you going?" Mara said, as Shiaku was getting battle armor on. "You better not be doing what I think you are doing!" she suddenly realized where he was going and what he was going to do.

"No one defies me! Especially not a lowly mortal. I'm going to enjoy ending his life!" Shiaku said as he put on a black trench coat.

"NO! You can't! I command you to stop!" Mara yelled at him.

"You no longer have power over me!" he said as he vanished in a cloud of smoke. Mara sat there in disbelief. Shiaku was on his way to kill Travin, something she didn't want to happen. She was a demon, but you can't just kill people. It goes against the rules. And for some reason, she felt strange toward this mortal. When she was in his head she felt something that burned in his soul more intensely than anything she had ever encountered. He was so empty, and she now felt a strong urge to relieve him of that emptiness. She couldn't admit it, but she had feelings for him. Feelings a demon was not supposed to have. Feelings of…love. But she had to stop Shiaku and quickly chased after him.

************

"Who said that?!" Urd said as she slid open the door, with Belldandy right behind her. She saw Skuld sitting there with shock written all over her face and holding Travin by the shoulders.

"It was I." Travin said. But he spoke it in the God's language.

"How did you???" Belldandy said with shock. Keiichi was now standing behind her.

"What did he say?" he said. He had no clue what was going on. Travin stood up, leaving Skuld staring at the place he had once been.

"What's wrong?" Travin said, in plain Japanese now.

"You couldn't have learned that language! How did you learn it!" Urd yelled. But before Travin could answer, there was an explosion outside.

"Travin Klatt! I'm calling you out!" an evil voice came from outside boomed, and then the wall exploded and a dark figure was standing in the yard. He had black hair, red sunglasses, a black trench coat, and a blood red shirt. Red electricity crackled from his hands.

"So you're the one who's been wreaking havoc into our lives." Travin spoke to the demon. "Well if it's a fight you want. Then it's a fight you'll get." And with that he leapt at almost a blinding speed and attacked the demon, hitting him right in the face with a strong punch.

"AARRGH!" it cried. "I didn't know he could fight so well!" he thought. He shot a force bolt at Travin who dodged it, barely. Travin went in for another attack, kicking him in the knees and ribs. 

"Ya!!!" Travin yelled. Skuld remembered him doing the same thing to Urd, only thins time it wasn't just wind. A large beam of green energy swirled up into the air sending the demon flying. He landed on his feet, staring with his red eyes through broken sunglasses.

"Why are you so mad? You were the one who came here!" Travin said, putting his hands in front of him and firing a large energy blast. The demon jumped out of the way and fired another force bolt at Travin. This time it hit him square in the chest.

"HA! Take that mortal!!" the demon yelled. Belldandy, Urd and Skuld were now outside watching the events. Travin got up from the ground, blood trailing from the corner of his mouth. 

"I think it would be better if we took care of this one, Travin." Urd said stepping in front of Travin. She summoned her battle armor, shining metal plating with two large broad swords. Belldandy and Skuld both summoned their armor as well. Belldandy had a long bow, and Skuld had her hammer. They all lunged at the demon, and appeared to gain the upper hand on him. 

"I hope they can beat him, but he seems to be getting stronger by the minute." Travin thought, as he watch the three goddesses fight the demon. "I can't sit here and let them fight my battle!" he shouted and jumped in and started kicking the crap out of the demon. He was scoring hit after hit on him, using all his speed and power. He finished his attack with a two handed palm strike sending the demon crashing through fence.

"You think you can stop me!" it shouted, getting up from the rubble. He threw up his and cast a large amount of red energy at the goddesses and Travin. "Now we'll see who's stronger!" he cackled. Suddenly, the goddesses battle armor disappeared! Urd tried to summon it again, but found that she couldn't.

"I can't use magic anymore!" she cried. None of them could use magic anymore. The demon must have cast and anti-magic spell on them.

"Now prepare to be terminated." The demon said casting a large force bolt straight at Skuld.

************

I had little time to react. I saw the demon shoot a bolt of energy at Skuld, and had only one option. If I could get enough energy to propel myself and take the shot, while using some energy for a shield, I can stop it. I blasted myself in between Skuld and the bolt. I pushed all the energy I had into the spot where the bolt was headed.

"NO TRAVIN!!" I heard Skuld cry. The bolt hit the shield with too much force, and it shattered. I felt the bolt rip though my side, pain writhing through my veins. I looked down to see a stain of blood growing outward from where I had taken the hit. It hadn't gone all the way through, but it had done its job. 

"Not bad!" I said, with the taste of blood in my mouth. I grasped my side in agony. 

"Now you can watch me destroy your friends!" the demon said, evil in his voice. Urd, Belldandy and Skuld stood huddled together, helpless. The demon advanced on them.

"No. I can't let him hurt my friends." I thought. There was only one option left. One move. One that I had been told never to use unless I absolutely had to. The one technique that was never to be used. The Angel of Death. Made of pure life energy, it destroys the soul of the enemy, so with out a soul, the body dies. But the Angel of Death requires the total life energy of the user, completely draining them, causing death. But it was my only choice. I had to save my friends. He would surely kill them. I started summoning all my life energy. A black ball formed in my hands. Finally, it was complete.

"Leave my friends alone." I said to the demon. It looked over at me and smiled.

"So you want one more shot?" he said, turning to face me. He put up a shield. "Bring it!" I pushed all my energy in and fired the beam straight at him shouting in pure rage.

"I'm sorry." I thought to Skuld.

************

Skuld heard Travin's words echoing in her mind. The same one's from her dream. She watched on in horror as Travin fired he black beam straight at the demon. It went straight through the shield he had put up with no effort, hitting him full force.

"Wha…No! It can't be! I'm Shiaku, Lord of Chaos!! Aaaarrgh!" he screamed. His soul was torn out of his body and disintegrated into nothing. Then his body was vaporized in the blast. She looked over and saw Travin's body slowly slump to the ground.

"I'm sorry." Kept echoing in her mind. She started to cry and ran over to him. It was too late. He was gone.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. She had lost the one she truly loved. The one who had brought happiness into her life. The one who gave warmth, joy, and energy was now gone for ever. She wasn't even sure if his soul would be in heaven, so she couldn't go and see him there! He had sacrificed his life to save theirs. She cried and cried on his lifeless body. Urd and Belldandy walked over to her, tears running down their faces. Belldandy put a hand on Skuld's shoulder. Keiichi walked out from his hiding place in the temple and looked on mournfully at the limp body of his good friend. Skuld looked at his face and wiped some of the blood from his mouth with her sleeve. Then something happened. Travin started to glow a bright blue. He floated up into the air and his clothes disappeared, revealing the wound from when he got hit by the force bolt and two huge snow white wings grew from his back, spreading out to their full glory.

"Just like in my dream!!" Skuld thought.

Then on his face, two blue, diamond shaped markings appeared on his cheeks and a large blue circle then on his forehead. New clothes then materialized around him. His new clothes were a green and white coloured God uniform! A long katana was on his side and a forest green sash around his waist. There was a loud clap of thunder and a lighting bolt shot down from the sky and burnt a message into the ground in front of the three goddesses.

"From death comes rebirth. Sleeping dormant for all of time, he now wakes, begotten for all of eternity, the God of Power. Awake, Travin, God of Power, Second class, Unlimited." Belldandy read aloud, and with the last word, Travin's eyes shot open. He looked down at his hands and then over at Skuld and the rest. Then he smiled. The blue light faded from Travin and he floated back down to the ground. He folded his wings back and they disappeared. Skuld's eye's were filled with tears of joy. Not only was Travin alive, but he was now a god! Everything she could've ever wished for had came true. She looked into his eyes and became lost in him again. Then Travin turned and walked over to a bush.

"Come out now." He spoke in a soft voice. There was a rustle in the bushes, and someone stood up. It was Mara. But something was different about her. She was crying. She was sad. She was cowering before Travin.

"Kneel down and receive what you deserve." Travin said. Mara knelt down before him, her eyes closed, as she shook with fear. Travin pulled out his sword. Thunder roared as he unsheathed it. Skuld caught a glimpse of what was written on the blade. "Lighting Blade". He drew it and held it out in front of him. 

"Is he really going to…" Skuld thought in shock. She watched as Travin drew his sword up into the air and tapped Mara once on each shoulder.

"Your wish has been granted." Travin said and he put his sword away. A blue light engulfed Mara and her demon markings disappeared and were replaced by a diamond shape split in half making two triangles facing away from each other( | | ), and two diamond shaped markings appeared on her cheeks.

"But…how…how did you know?" Mara cried in happiness.

"I knew your true feelings. Congratulations Mara, Third class goddess of passion, limited." Travin said happily as a pillar of light carried Mara off to the heavens. He turned back to the group and walked over to them. Skuld ran up to him and kissed him full on the lips. 

************

I remember being in a place filled with light, and a man came up to me and said that they had been waiting a long time for me to wake up. I thought it must've all been a dream, the temple and the goddesses, but then I noticed that he had divine markings on his face. He was a god! 

"If you're a god, then I'm in heaven?" I asked him.

"Yes, but now you are going to be reborn as the god of power." The god said.

"That is, if it's alright with you." Another man's voice said. I instantly knew who it was.

"Kami-sama!" I gasped.

"I see you know who I am. I want you to be the god of power Travin. You suit the part perfectly." Kami-sama said.

"What does the god of power do?" I asked.

"Well he basically is in charge of all the power for heaven."

"You mean if I became the god of power, I would be in charge of powering heaven?"

"Some thing like that."

"But what will my family say if I was a god?" I asked, thinking back to Winnipeg.

"They will be informed that you have a job in Nekomi and that you are going to live here. As for your appearance, you will look like you're aging normally to your family."

"Man, this is a really big decision." I said. I looked down to see the temple yard below. I looked closer and saw Skuld holding my dead body and crying.

"Alright, I'll become the god of power." I accepted. Hey, I just got the best job in the world, but it took a bit for my brain to register. Before I knew it, I was back at the temple.

************

"This is amazing!" Skuld cried. She had been holding on to Travin for quite some time now. Travin, who was still shocked from the kiss she had given him was turning a bit red.

"Hey easy there Skuld! I think he's going to burst!" Urd said in her sultry voice.

"Oh how wonderful that you've become a god, Travin! And a second class unlimited, too! That's as good as Urd!" Belldandy praised him.

"Yeah, I guess! But I'm the most powerful one here!" Urd said defiantly.

"I wouldn't count on that, considering he's the god of *power* for crying out loud!!" Skuld countered. Urd sat and thought for a second.

"Oh yeah I guess you're right. Damn! But I can still cast spells better than him!"

"Okay, okay! Quite arguing over me!" Travin said, trying to brake up the debate over who was better than who. He looked down at his new clothes.

"Nice colours, but I like my normal clothes for now." He said and cast a clothes changing spell. There was a flash of green light and he was wearing his normal cargo pants and white t-shirt. "Much better!" he proclaimed happily. Just then, the phone rang. Travin walked over and picked it up.

"Hello, Morrisato residence, Travin speaking."

"Hello Travin, it is I." The voice on the other end said.

"Oh! Hello Lord, would you like to speak to Belldandy or Urd or Skuld?" Travin asked.

"No, that is alright. It is you who I wish to speak with. I want you to know that you are to stay in the surface world and learn from Belldandy, Urd, and Skuld, about the ways of the divine. That is all." 

"Okay, thank you Lord." Travin said and then hung up.

"What did the Father want?" Skuld asked.

"Well he said that he wants me to learn the divine ways from you three." Travin said with a smile.

"Oh how perfect!" Skuld said and jumped on Travin, giving him a big hug.

"Uh…yeah!" answered the bewildered god.

************

"Oh this is so great!" Skuld thought. She was ecstatic. Travin was now the God of Power! Now he could go to heaven with her. Then it hit her. "Does he love me, though? I know I love him, but…" Skuld sat down on her bed and thought about it. She remembered his thoughts on love. About how he gave love with out meaning. "Well then I'll just have to get him to love me then."

And she set off to find Travin. When she found him he was sleeping. "How predictable!" Skuld sighed. Travin rolled over and his blanket parted revealing his topless chest. Skuld stared at his muscular frame. He was a lot more built than Keiichi was, but not so much that it made him look huge. 

"I shouldn't be staring like this." She thought. She should respect his privacy. He doesn't watch her while she sleeps. But she couldn't take her eyes off him. His hair, and how it was all spiky and messed up from sleeping. She walked over to him and knelt beside his bed. She watched him, as he seemed to mumble something.

"Ai…aishiteru*…Skuld-sama…" (*I love you Skuld) he mumbled. Skuld was taken aback. She just heard him say that he loved her. It was in his sleep, but that was beside the point. 

"Well I guess that proves it." Skuld smiled. She knew what to do now. "I love you, too Travin-sama!" she whispered into his ear. His eyes shot open. 

"Bah… what did you say, Skuld-sama?" he stumbled over the words, blushing profoundly.

"I said what you said to me." Skuld said shyly. "And I meant every word."

"I-I said… it out loud?" he thought. "Well I guess it's true, I do. Stop fighting it, she said she loves you, too!" his mind told him. He walked up to Skuld and looked into her eyes. "I love you, Skuld-sama."

Skuld let the words repeat in her head over and over again, letting them sink in. She closed her eyes, trying to save this moment forever in her mind. When she opened them she saw Travin reach up and hold her face and press his lips to hers. He sent a thought over to her via telepathy. 

"I love you."

************

Keiichi turned the page in his text book, cramming for his final exam. He only had two exams left, and on the last few, he was confident that he had done very well. Travin was also on his final two exams, and the same with Skuld, but they went to sleep an hour ago, so it was just him awake. Once he finished the chapter on differential gear ratios, he decided he'd better turn in for the night.

"Man, studying sure makes a guy tired!" he noted to himself quietly. "That's enough for tonight." He spoke softly as he put his books away. He got into his pajamas and sat down in his bed. He closed his eyes and let his thoughts wonder. Then he remembered what Belldandy told him the other day.

"I hope you like what you saw, my Keiichi." Her soft, beautiful voice echoed in his mind. He lay back on his futon and closed his eyes. Then there was a quiet knock on the door.

"Keiichi? May I come in?" Belldandy whispered from behind the door. Keiichi sat up and walked over to his door, and opened it.

"Sure Bell, you're always welcome in my room." He said. He went back and sat on his bed. He looked at Belldandy, who knelt down in front of him. She was wearing her blue night gown that had gold, circular patterns embroidered into it. He looked into her eyes and could tell that something was on her mind.

"Keiichi…" she began, but was having trouble finding the right words.

"Go ahead, Belldandy, you can ask me anything." Keiichi said, trying to be reassuring. Belldandy thought for a minute, and then got her thoughts together.

"Keiichi, I love with all my body and soul and I want to be with you day…and night."

Her face was now turning a dark pink colour. Keiichi swallowed the lump in his throat. He'd thought about this situation for a while. He knew she loved him enough to move to a more intimate relationship, and wanted Belldandy to be happy. He looked at her and smiled.

"You may do what ever you wish if it makes you happy." He said softly. She blushed furiously, playing with her sleeve on her gown. Keiichi bent over and kissed her.

"Thank you for blessing my life." He said, and he got up and pulled the extra futon mattress from his closet, and put it next to his. He pulled the covers over and Belldandy snuggled up next to him. Keiichi's heart was going a mile a minute, and he was hoping that over the coarse of the night, his hands wouldn't go anywhere they weren't meant to. He looked at her by his side.

"She's the most beautiful creature in existence. Only five more days until I ask her. Five days." He thought. "I love you my Goddess." He whispered to her and closed his eyes to sleep. Tomorrow was the race, so he needed his rest.

************

I looked over the map of the race coarse, memorizing the turns and figuring out how fast I could take them at. Skuld came up to me and gave me a kiss on the cheek. 

"Good luck! I hope you win!" she said in her usual, exuberant voice. Then Aoshima and his gang walked in. I felt like the day had just gotten dirtier.

"So who's this little chum, is he related to you, Morrisato?" he said in a snooty voice. The nerve of the guy, calling me, who was a head taller than him, little chum. Hey I may look my age but I'm not little dammit.

"No, I'm staying at his place. I'm a transfer student. My name is Travin Klatt. Pleased to meet you Aoshima." I tried to look sincere. I was definitely not pleased to meet him. One of his goons, who was looking through a sport flying magazine, suddenly piped up.

"*The* Travin Klatt? From Canada?" he said, as if me being there was greater than a solar eclipse.

"Yeah, hey is that the August issue? My article's in there." I said, very amused that he had probably stumbled onto my racing stats.

"Hey gimmie that!" Aoshima said, yanking the magazine from the bewildered fellow. His eyes went wide as he read. He threw the magazine at Tamiya.

"That doesn't prove anything!" He said angrily and stormed off, the rest of his troop hurrying behind him. Tamiya glanced at the magazine that just hit him.

"Wow! Youse din tell us dat youse was dis good!" he said. He was looking at my track records.

"Hey, I never brag!" I admitted modestly. Then a message came over the PA system.

"All racers to their planes, ten minutes to take off."

"Well you'd better get going! Good luck up there!"

Keiichi said as I put on my racing gear.

"Thanks! This is going to be great!" I said enthusiastically. 

"Be careful!" Belldandy said.

"Yeah, and you'd better win!" Urd said, almost threateningly. She ruffled my hair and went off to the stands. Typical Urd.

************

"This will teach them not to mess with me!" Aoshima snickered as he poked a small hole in the fuel line of Travin's racer. A few droplets of fuel ran from the hole. "Now when he is flying his engine will start to smoke and he'll have to land! Ha hahaha!" and he ran off to his private viewing box.

************

I sat in the cockpit of my plane and checked everything over. Control surfaces, throttle, brakes, mixture, instruments. Everything was okay. I looked around to see what I was up against. The usual extra 300's and a couple zero's, and right beside me I saw the other Nekomi team. What? The Four Wheels club had an entry? I looked down at the landing gear. A forth wheel was attached to the front of the tricycle. Figures. That Aoshima shmuck would do anything to try and show up the Auto club. I looked at the pilot. He was looking straight at me! He wore a black helmet with a black visor. The pilot slowly took of his helmet revealing flowing locks of blonde hair. The pilot was a girl! I foreign girl, too. She opened her window and motioned me to do the same.

"Hey cutie!" she called out. Cutie? "I'm gonna fly laps around you, hun!"

"Who are you?" I asked. She was pretty attractive, and looked about the same age as I was.

"The name's Anna Anaka. You're not like the rest of these goofs are ya? And you're North American, too!" she said with a wink.

"Canadian actually. No I'm not like the rest. My name's Travin Klatt. Why are you racing for that loser Aoshima?"

"Cause he pays good! You're from Canada you say? Well I'm from good ol' California! Hey how old are you anyway? You don't look old enough to be in college?"

"I'm 17, but I am in university. I go to NIT. Don't ask now, I'll tell you later if you want, but the race is going to start!" I said.

"Yeah, alright, get ready to lose, though!"

"Oh yeah? Well *you* get ready to eat my jet lag!" I said with an evil grin and I closed my cockpit window. She gave me a similar look and went back to her controls.

"Start your engines!" the voice on the PA system called out. A loud roar was heard as the sound of thirty engines came to life. I looked over at my opponent, then at the starter light. The coarse was twenty two laps, and I needed to make everyone of em count. Yellow, yellow, yellow, green! I pulled the brake handle down and felt my craft lunge forward gaining speed by the second. I needed to reach sixty knots before I could take off. Fifty five, sixty! A familiar sensation of weightlessness surged through my veins as I was airborne. I looked left and then right and saw Miss Anaka right on my tail. I jammed the throttle to idle and cruised around the first turn, gaining some altitude. The races usually took place at about 200 ft or lower. I was fast approaching the second turn balloon. Then Miss Anaka pulled right out in front of me and mirrored my every move to regain the lead.

"Hehe, not bad. For an amateur!" I said. I jammed the control stick back and to the right, and pressed the right side rudder pedal, moving me inverted in a snap roll over Miss Anaka's plane. I caught the look of surprise and slyness on her face as I barreled over her. One more turn for the lap. As I rounded the bend Miss Anaka pulled a quick inside vertical roll and squeezed by me, in between me and the balloon. We were neck and neck when we crossed the line. Only twenty one laps left. This was going to be a good race.

************

Urd, Belldandy, Keiichi, Skuld and the rest watched on as the planes sped by. They let out a cheer when they saw Travin tied for the lead with plane number 18.

"Who is that flying for the Four Wheels club anyway?" Belldandy asked Keiichi, who was busy going over some track stats.

"Oh uh, lessee. The pilot is…Anna Anaka. Who's that?" he replied. He read her info section in the brochure. "It says she is from California. Her parents are part American and part Japanese. I guess that explains the name. She was the winner of the All American Tour three times in a row, and second place in the world under twenty circuit."

"Who was first?" Skuld asked. Keiichi flipped a couple pages.

"Hehe, do I have to tell ya?" he smiled. It was obvious who was the winner there.

"No, but that chick better not try any funny business with my man!" Skuld threatened.

"How would she do that? They're in airplanes?" Belldandy said.  
"Yeah, but she flying for Aoshima's team, remember? I'd bet he's paying her to knock him outta the race somehow." Keiichi stated with disgust.

"Hmm, you're right. I think I'll do some investigating, hehehe." Urd said slyly. She looked around to see if anyone was watching, then shrunk down to mini-Urd and disappeared into a poof of smoke.

"Ten laps remaining." The announcer said.

"Alright! Go Travin!" Keiichi and Belldandy shouted.

"Yeah! Go Travin-sama!" Skuld yelled happily.

************

"Damn. Only ten laps left. Why hasn't his engine caught yet?" Aoshima looked on through his binoculars furiously. Travin's plane was doing fine and he was in the lead with the Four Wheels club's plane on his tail. "This won't do at all!"

************

I looked down at my fuel gauge. "That's odd," I thought. "I shouldn't have burned up *that* much fuel in only twelve laps? Oh well, I have more than enough to complete the race. And then some to show off, too! He hee!"

************

"Darn. This guy's good! No wonder I lost to him in the World's. I didn't even know who I lost to." Anna thought back to the World Sport Flying Race last year. "Hehe, not only that but, what a looker! I'll have to get my hands on him after I win this race!"

************

"FINAL LAP!" A loud cheer came from the crowd as the planes raced over the starting line. Travin had managed to stay in first place the entire race. He was followed closely by the FWC team and a plane from the Tokyo University team.

The gang watched closely as Travin rounded the third corner. Only seven turns left. The distance between each balloon was about one kilometer. Suddenly, Travin's plane began spouting black smoke from the engine.

"Hey! What's wrong with his plane?" Belldandy asked.

"I think his engines caught fire!" Keiichi shouted with shock. "But I'm sure we checked all the fuel and oil lines before he took off! That Aoshima must have tampered with the engine!" Keiichi ran over to the radio and called Travin. 

"Keiichi, my fuel line's been cut! If I don't cut the fuel off or land she'll light up!" Travin's voice stopped all movement in hearing range.

"You've gotta land!" Skuld shouted into the receiver.

"No ways he's uh gonna land! He's on duh final lap! He can make it!" Tamiya bellowed. He was also upset that their plane had been tampered with, but he knew if they landed they would lose. 

"No, Tamiya's right! I have to finish this. And I know just how to do it!" Travin said and turned off the radio.

************

I looked down at the knee board and saw the master alarm light blinking furiously. I looked at the engine and saw the tips of orange flames seeping out from the intakes. I quickly closed the cowl flaps and jammed the control stick straight back, sending my craft speeding upwards. I looked at my vertical climb indicator. The needle was past plus twenty. I checked my altimeter. When I got to three thousand I pushed the controls down with all my might. I watched the vertical climb need slam down to minus twenty. (the more plus, the faster you go up. The more minus, the faster you go down) I watched the engine, praying that the flames would go out.

"C'mon, c'mon!" I shouted. This was looking a lot like the good old racing days.

************

"What th-" Anna watched Travin's plane start smoking and she saw him pull straight up. "His engines on fire? But how…" she thought back to when Aoshima talked to her before the race.

"Don't worry about the other NIT team. He'll be having…difficulty, during the race."

"That sneaky little bastard!" Anna laughed. She was now going to win, but it wasn't fair that she would win because of that.

************

I was fast approaching the finish line. My speedometer read three hundred, and the over speed light was on. I closed the flaps to give me an extra bit of speed. I could see Miss Anaka's plane below me, and I was closing fast. It was the last leg of the circuit and it was going to be a close one. I pulled my plane into a perpendicular roll to squeeze through for the win. I was going four hundred knots! I pushed past Miss Anaka's plane just as she crossed the finish line! We won! I pulled up and did some celebrating, snap rolling and finishing off with an inverted barn stormer. The crowd went nuts! I finished the victory lap and landed my plane. When the engine stopped, it let out a cloud of smoke. The fire teams ran in and hosed it down, but were soon swamped by hundreds of people rushing to congratulate me. I was carried over to the winner's circle and along with Miss Anaka, and Toshi Makato, from the Tokyo University, who won second and third respectively. I was handed the celebratory champagne and a large trophy with a plane at the top. The plate read: First Place, Japan Annual College Air Race, Nekomi Institute of Technology Motor Club, Pilot Travin Klatt. I shouted with joy as I shook up my bottle and popped it, spraying it all over the place. I caught a spray in face from the right and I looked over to see Miss Anaka pointing her bottle at me.

"Congratulations. That was a nice stunt you pulled there on the final. What happened anyways?" she asked. 

"Yeah, well it turns out some shmuck, ahem Aoshima, cut my fuel line, causing the fire. Luckily I was able to put it out." I said happily. "Congrats to you too!" I said, shaking her hand. For some reason she was blushing. I wonder what she's thinking. Then I remembered I was a god now, and I could read her mind. I looked into her mind and saw she was thinking about me! As more than a friend to her! Uh oh. I already have a girl, and now she's after me? Oh no! She was planning on asking me to dinner! I had to think of a response and fast!

"Hey Travin, you um, wanna go out to celebrate somewhere after this?" She asked. I had to let her down easy. Do I tell her that I'm taken, or what?

"Uh, I can't, I gotta get going. I'm a really busy guy. Later!" and with that I ran off to the Motor club trailer, leaving a let down Anna behind. 

"Well I'm not giving up on a guy like you!" she vowed and walked off to yell at Aoshima for pulling that stunt.

************

"Yeah! We won! Way to go Travin!" Keiichi shouted as Travin ran over to great them. They were all smiles when he approached.

"Yes congratulations, Travin!" Belldandy said cheerily. 

"You da man!" Urd winked at him, causing him to blush.

"Aww, shucks!" Travin said sheepishly. Skuld ran up to him and gave him a hug.

"Next time, try not to light the plane on fire!" she grinned. 

"Which reminds me, that Aoshima has gone too far this time. I'll have to have a word with him." Keiichi said, casting a side wards glance in the direction of the FW club's trailer.

"Yeah, like wise." Travin seconded. "But first, we gotta celebrate! Ain't that right? Tamiya an' Ootaki?"

"YAA!" the both shouted. And with that, the group went off to party.

************

After a night at the dance club, where Urd had partied like usual, Keiichi and Belldandy danced the night away and Tamiya and Ootaki pounded back a few with the guys, Travin decided to call it a night. He wasn't tired but was in need for some different scenery.

"Hey Skuld!" he called to the goddess dancing out on the floor. "Wanna get some ice cream?"

"Sure!" the ever enthusiastic gal smiled at the words, imagining what she would get. Travin told the other's he and Skuld were going now, and to have a good time, then they left to find a place for ice cream that was still open.

"Where are we going to get ice cream this late?" Skuld asked.

"There's always a place and a way to find it!" Travin said. He looked around to see if the coast was clear. "C'mon!" he shouted as he took her hand and ran over to a telephone. He picked up the receiver. "Hold on, okay?" and they dove in. Skuld looked around to see electricity and bits of people's conversations streaming by them as the flew through the electrical channel. Travin looked over to the left and saw what he was looking for. They flew over to it and waited until the coast was clear. Then they hopped out. When they got out the other side, Skuld noticed it was early evening, and the environment was *a lot* different.

"Where are we?" Skuld asked, looking around.

"Welcome to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada!" Travin said with a grin. They were all the way in Canada! "This place is called Sargent Sundays! Their ice cream is really good!" Travin informed her. Skuld was still a bit weary from the initial shock of being in Canada. After they ordered, the went for a stroll down Portage Avenue. They went down Mount Royal Crescent, and then into a drive way.

"Where are we now?" Skuld asked, looking at a one story house, with coral walls and lots of trees in the front yard. In the back yard, it banked off into the river.

"Welcome to my house!" Travin said with a smile. There wasn't anyone home, so it was okay to go in. If there was somebody home, it would seem a little suspicious to see Travin there, since he should be in Japan, let alone, with a girl. Travin gave Skuld the fifty cent tour and ended off with his room. Travin's room had a desk with a computer, a western style futon, bed/couch, and a small workshop.

"Hope you don't mind the mess!" Travin said, a little embarrassed.

"Makes it more homely." Skuld smiled.

"That's exactly the way I see it!" Travin thought.

"This is a very lovely room!" Skuld said, looking around. Posters of airplanes on the walls, pictures of gradings from his martial arts, a bokken, bo and sai's on the wall. 

"Well we'd better get going!" Travin said, getting up and walking over to a wall socket. Skuld stood up and took Travin's hand. He put on hand in the socket and they both flew into the electrical stream. When they got out on the other side, they were back at the temple, just in time to see Keiichi and Belldandy heading in for the night. Skuld noticed Belldandy, who was already in her night gown, also going into Keiichi's room. Skuld felt the need to protest, but then something hit her. She realized all that time she'd tried to stop them from getting close, she was wrong. She understood that they were adults now and could make their own decisions. She too, was almost an adult now, and she realized how they felt for each other, because now, she had some one to share those feeling with. A very special god.

"Good night older sister!" Skuld called out to Belldandy, who turned around a little surprised, then put a loving smile one.

"Good night, Skuld!" Belldandy said. "She's finally growing up. I guess she realizes things because she has Travin now." Belldandy thought. She turned and retired to Keiichi's room.

"That's very mature of you Skuld." Urd said from behind them. Skuld didn't even hear her come in. "I'm proud of you."

"Thanks, Urd. Well, I guess I'm off to bed." Skuld said. She looked around to see if Travin was there to kiss her goodnight, but he had disappeared. "Rats" she thought.

"Off to Travin's bed?" Urd suggested with a sly grin. Skuld scowled back at her. "What's the matter? Afraid he'll turn you down? You know you want him."

"Only *you* would think that." Skuld said, turning on her heel and walking off to her room. Leaving Urd smiling mischievously.

"Hehe, they're such a hot couple. Just like the other love birds. Now I just wish *I* could get some one. I just wish he would notice me." Urd sighed, thinking of the only god ever to catch her heart. Now all she needed to do was get him to notice her. Which reminded her. When was the last time she went up to the heavens for a visit?

************

Travin hung up the phone and looked down at the ground sadly.

"What did He want, Travin?" Skuld asked about the Almighty's call. Travin turned to her and held her in his embrace.

"I'm sorry Skuld…but it was never meant to be…"

"What are you saying?"

"I was never meant to be a god…I was meant to die on that day…it was my destiny…"

"N-no! It can't be!!!" Skuld cried. Travin started to fade away. She grabbed onto him, refusing to let go. "I love you! Please don't go! Travin!" He reached down to her and kissed her as he faded into nothing. Skuld felt the tears roll down her cheeks.

"No." 

He was gone.

"NOOOOO!" Skuld screamed waking from the horrible nightmare. She looked around, cold sweat running down her brow. She clenched her covers close to her, trying to warm herself, but to no avail. She needed to see if Travin was ok. She got up, still clutching the blanket around her. She walked over to Travin's door and opened it. She saw Travin sleeping peacefully on his futon. She sighed with relief. She didn't want to go back to bed by her self, she wanted the warmth and love of some one to protect her. She went over to Belldandy's room and opened the door to find no one there. Then she remembered that Belldandy was sleeping with Keiichi now. She ruled out asking to sleep in Urd's room because Urd was, well, Urd. But she couldn't go back to her own room so she went back to Travin's room. She stood outside his door. Would it be alright to just stay with him for a while? She just wanted to sleep in his room, just to know that he was there, she wasn't going to sleep in his bed or anything. She slid open his door and went in. She knelt down beside Travin and gently shook him awake. Usually it took a lot to wake him, but for some reason, maybe the urgency, he woke rather easily.

"Travin…" Skuld said softly.

"Huh…oh it's you Skuld. Is there some thing wrong?" Travin said, a little groggy. Skuld thought about the dream, about losing him and started to cry.

"Oh Travin I had a terrible nightmare! You were never meant to be a god and you left me for ever!" she cried. She reached out and hugged Travin, who was propped up on his elbows. He put an arm around her as she trembled.

"Shhh, it's okay Skuld." He soothed, gently massaging her back. "I'm not going anywhere. I'll always be with you." 

"Would it be alright *sniff* if I stayed in your room *sniff* for tonight?" Skuld sniffled. Travin was a little shocked, but he knew she wasn't here for *that* reason, only because she needed someone to be with at the moment.

"Sure Skuld, I'll get you a futon." He said, getting up and grabbing a mattress from the closet. Skuld averted her eyes as she noticed he was wearing only a pair of boxers and a t-shirt. He put the futon down a little a ways from his then got back and pulled the covers over. He rolled over to face the other way, to give Skuld some privacy. Skuld lay down and pulled the blankets over her. But she was still cold. She shuffled around until she found a warmer spot. She opened her eyes to find that warmer spot was Travin's back!

"Ya're, ya're (Oh well). We love each other, he's a god, I'm a goddess, we're both adults." Skuld thought happily as she snuggled closer to her heat source, trying to put as little space between them. Travin was a little bit surprised by her sudden boldness, but figured she needed to be comforted. He noticed she was fairly cold to the touch, so he concentrated and emanated some heat for her. Kinda like a space heater. Skuld seemed to like this and pulled him closer with her outstretched arm. She fell asleep in seconds. Soon Travin drifted off too.

************

Keiichi and Belldandy walked up to the exam boards to look up their marks. Belldandy had done very well, as usual, with 95% or higher all across the board. Keiichi looked for his name and looked at his marks. He gasped at what he saw. He was out right shocked. He turned pale and turned around to face Belldandy who was looking at him with worry. 

"What is it Kei?" she asked, then she looked at his marks. 100% in every coarse. She threw her arms around him and shouted with joy.

"Pinch me, please! I'm dreaming!" he pinched himself, and after the pain subsided he looked back at his marks and jumped up in the air.

"YES! OH YES! OH THANK YOU LORD!! ACED! ALL ACES!! YAHA!" Keiichi shouted. He had aced his final year in university! A near impossible thing to do!

"Congratulations Keiichi! You deserved it! You studied so hard and never gave up!" Belldandy said with cheer.

"Now that I'm done university, it's time to celebrate!!" Keiichi yelled, grabbing Belldandy's hand and racing to his motorcycle. He was going to party like it was 1999! Again! "C'mon Bell, we're going to have some fun!" 

"Slow down Keiichi!" Belldandy laughed, caught up in his excitement. When they got to the temple, Keiichi phoned up all his friends and told them there was a party tonight at the temple. Everyone was finished too, so everyone could make it. After making some orders for some food for the party, which Belldandy said she would prepare but Keiichi said that they should relax tonight because they both graduated with very good marks, he put down the phone and hugged Belldandy.

"Congratulations on the great marks, Bell!" He said, overwhelmed with the days events.

"Thanks Kei. And here's my congratulations." She said pulling him in for a kiss.

"You know, that's the first time I've actually planned to hold a party here! The other times it was all my sempai's! Well, here's to a great time Nekomi Tech!" he said, looking up at the sky as if there was a big, Nekomi Technical Institution building in the air. He suddenly remembered something he had to do. "Um Belldandy, I just have to go out for a bit and then I'll be right back, okay?"

"Of coarse Kei!" Belldandy said happily and went off to do some knitting. Keiichi walked out of the temple and strolled down to the park. He had arranged to meet someone there to ask a very important question. Keiichi thought back of how he actually contacted this man. He loved the redial button. Now, as anyone would think, meeting the Lord himself was something that didn't happen every once in a while, so Keiichi was a little nervous of what he should do in the presence of the Almighty. Keiichi sat down at the bench where He said they would meet and waited. Some one sat down beside him and he slowly looked over to see a man with long black hair wearing sunglasses with white metal frames. He looked a little older than Keiichi. Was this Him? The Almighty? Keiichi wondered.

"Relax Keiichi. It is I." The Lord said. Keiichi tensed up, but then relaxed a bit after feeling the warm presence of the Holy One Himself.

"Um no offence, Lord, but, you look very…young?" Keiichi asked, afraid he'd be struck down for questioning the Lord's appearance.

"Hehe, well, I like to show what is reflected in my heart, and we're all young at heart." The Lord explained.

"Oh. I see. Well I like it." Keiichi said honestly. "Um, I have some thing I want to ask you, Sir…" Keiichi began, he had no idea how he was going to ask the Almighty permission to marry one of his daughters.

"It's okay Keiichi. You have my blessings, and I personally will attend to be the minister at the service." He smiled. Keiichi was in shock. The Lord not only approved, but also said he blessed it and would be the minister to marry them. Keiichi bowed his head.

"Thank you, Lord. Thank you for everything!" Keiichi said, filled with joy.

"There's just one thing. I don't think you knew this, but you are immortal. You said for ever in your wish. For all eternity. And that is the only way you can do that. You should probably tell your parents though, but I'm sure they'll take it well." The Lord smiled. Keiichi almost dropped to the ground. Immortal? Him?

"Oh Lord, I'm…speechless." Keiichi whispered. The Lord chuckled.

"That's okay. You don't have to say anything. Now go home and have fun at your party!" the Lord said, getting up.

"Thank you." Keiichi said.

************

After the party, everyone headed down to the Kareoke Bar and decided to have a competition. It composed of Belldandy, Urd, Skuld, Keiichi, Tamiya and Ootaki, and myself. How they persuaded me to sing, I don't know. Anyway, Keiichi and Belldandy did a duet together, and sang a translated version of the song Just The Two Of Us, Urd sang the song Wild Thing, translated of coarse, Tamiya and Ootaki sang their infamous 'What A man's Gotta Do' song, and then Skuld walked up to the mike. She cleared her throat and started to sing.

(Sung in Japanese)

I see you waiting by the gate,

A bunch of flowers in your hand.

You ask if you're late,

But I tell you you're worth it.

We walk for a while, and you hold me close,

I don't wanna let go, you're mine for good.

Cause if I let go, I'm gonna lose ya!

Don't wanna ever lose you, ever!

You're mine and mine alone!

And if I think that I could do better,

Somebody smack me upside the head!

We walk down by the sea, 

And in the moonlight I see your smile and I know.

Your love is strong and it's just for me!

Your love it just for me!

I know it to be true!

Your love is just for me!

I know because it's you!

Your love is just for me!

I can see it I your eyes!

Your love is just for me!

That face could never lie!

With the last word she pointed at me, causing me to blush. She gave a small bow and walked off the stage. Then I was next. Oh great. The song I had, which was in english, ain't I a stinker, but I had prepared the tape that played on the screens in the background to read the translation. I walked up to the mike, at that point all I could hear was cheering from the peanut gallery, but I took in a deep breath and began my song.

There used to be a greying tower alone on the sea

(insert eruption of screams here)  
You, became the light on the dark side of me  
Love remains, a drug that's the high and not the pill  
But did you know that when it snows  
My eyes become large  
And the light that you shine can't be seen?  
Baby, I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the grey  
Ooh, the more I get of you, the stranger it feels yeah  
Now that your rose is in bloom A light hits the gloom on the grey  
There is so much a man can tell you So much he can say  
You remain my power, my pleasure, my pain Baby, To me, you're like a growing  
Addiction that I can't deny Won't you tell me, is that healthy, baby?  
But did you know that when it snows My eyes become large  
And the light that you shine can't be seen?  
Baby, I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the grey  
Ooh, the more I get of you, the stranger it feels yeah  
Now that your rose is in bloom A light hits the gloom on the grey  
I've been kissed by a rose on the grey  
I've been kissed by a rose on the grey  
And if I should fall, will it all go away?

I've been kissed by a rose on the grey

There is so much a man can tell you So much he can say  
You remain my power, my pleasure, my pain Baby, To me, you're like a growing  
Addiction that I can't deny Won't you tell me, is that healthy, baby?  
But did you know that when it snows My eyes become large  
And the light that you shine can't be seen?  
Baby, I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the grey  
Ooh, the more I get of you, the stranger it feels yeah  
Now that your rose is in bloom A light hits the gloom on the grey  
Yes, I compare you a kiss from a rose on the grey  
Ooh, the more I get of you, the stranger it feels yeah  
Now that your rose is in bloom A light hits the gloom on the grey.

Now that your rose is in bloom A light hits the gloom on the grey…

As I finished my song another round of screams escaped from the crowd. What's up with that? Does being a god make you a better singer or something? Anyways, when I got off stage I was surrounded by girls!

"Oh please go out with me!"

"Can I have you number?"

"Can I have your address?"

"Can I have *you* ?" was all I could hear. Uh-oh. This probably isn't making Skuld too happy.

"Uh, sorry girls, I'm taken!" I said, trying to squeeze by to get to Skuld. When I got to her, I saw the look on her face. Yup. I was right. Looking a little steamed. "Hey don't look at me! It's not like I want them to chase after me. Besides, you know who that song was really for." I defended my self. The last bit seemed to make her feel better.

"Okay. Did you like my song?" she asked, putting on the full puppy dog eyes, hands clasped together in front, on the tip toes, look straight into your face look.

"Yeah it was great! You have such a beautiful voice!" I said, pouring on the works. Skuld giggled and blushed. Oh yeah, I'm a charmer.

************

"Keiichi Morrisato!" the dean said over the microphone. Keiichi walked onto the platform and took the diploma and shook hands with the dean. He gave a big smile and joined the rest of his graduates. He stood next to Belldandy, who was clutching her diploma as well.

"Congratulations Keiichi!" she said hugging him closer.

"Thanks Bell, you too!" suddenly a louder applause was heard as the last graduate received her diploma. Everyone gathered around and with one big cheer, they threw their hats into the air. They had graduated! After the ceremony, they all went out to dinner. Keiichi and Belldandy sat together with Travin and Skuld at one table, eating their food, smiling, and looking at each other through the candlelight, while Urd, Megumi, Tamiya and Ootaki sat at another.

"Congrats on the good grades Keiichi!" Travin said after taking a sip from his drink. Skuld looked at his cup. 

"That's the fifth one he's had! What's he drinking anyways? If it's alcohol, he must have better tolerance than Urd! But I don't think he's allowed to drink alcohol." Skuld thought. "Hey what's that your drinking?" she asked him.

"It's root beer. Best stuff on earth! You should try some!" Travin said. He ordered one for her when the waitress walked by. A minute later, she returned with a glass of root beer.

"Thanks." Travin said to the waitress.

"Is it alcohol?" Skuld asked him, still unsure of this new drink.

"Nope, it's like soda. I think it originally used to be an alcoholic drink, hence the name, but I don't know. All I know is that it's great stuff, I'm sure you'll like it!" Skuld picked up the glass and took a sip. It was sweet and creamy.

"Oh yum! It's sweet like ice cream!" she said as she took another drink. "But I don't know how you can drink so much of it." She giggled.

"It's just cause I like it." Travin admitted. 

"Yeah, just look at me!" Urd said, taking another gulp of her sake. Travin just stared with a 'that's not what I meant' look. After dinner, they all went back to the temple to get ready for a night of dancing.

************

"Yeah, you the god!" I said quietly to my self as I looked in the mirror, making sure my clothes looked alright. I was wearing a green golf shirt, white khaki's and my favorite green sneakers. Hey, it's my favorite color!

I went out into the hall and started off to the dining room. On my way I met up with Keiichi as he came out of his room. He was wearing a pale blue short sleeved dress shirt with a white t-shirt underneath, and a pair of khaki's.

"Not bad!" I commented.

"Likewise!" was his response. We both sat down on the living room couches and waited for our dates. As the minutes went by I looked at my watch.

"I wonder why it takes them so long to get ready?" Keiichi pondered.

"I think it's because they want to prove that they want to look good for us." I said. It had been fifteen minutes since we sat down.

"Hey Keiichi?"

"Yeah?"

"You ever think about asking her the big Q?"

"Well actually, yes." He said. He motioned me to lean forward and whispered something to me. I almost jumped out of my spot.

"Tonight?!?!" I whispered loudly, although it is hard, yes, it can be done. He pulled out a small oak box and popped it open. My eyes widened as I took in the magnificent ring. It was very simple but stunningly beautiful. It had a platinum band with a pale blue diamond wrapped in two gold crescents. "Damn! What a rock! She's yours for sure! Congratulations!" I said cheerfully.

"Well I haven't asked her yet, so just hold back the tidings for now. Hey Travin, can you do me a favor?"

"Sure."

"If I try to back out, hit me or something. Cause this is the most important thing in my life, and I don't wanna back out because I'm nervous."

"Uh…okay. I promise to knock you flat if you don't follow through with this. But don't worry Keiichi! She loves you more than anything! I'm sure she'll say yes!"

"Alright thanks for the enthusiasm. Anyways, here they come." Keiichi said, looking over to the hall. I swear, if I wasn't a God, I would have died from sensory overload. Belldandy was wearing her favorite blue strapless night dress with a small black and blue purse, and Skuld was wearing a white V-neck blouse and a red to black gradient skirt. At this point, only one word was going through my mind. "Daaaaaaaaaamn!" Out loud, I said something along the lines of:

"I don't think I can take this much condensed beauty!" and so forth. Of course this brought on a blush from Skuld. Hey what can I say, I'm good with words.

"Thank you Travin, you're so sweet!" Skuld said bashfully. Keiichi was busy trying to get his jaw to work in terms with what his brain was saying. So off we went to dance the night away. 

Until the next chapter…

Travin.


End file.
